3 Caribbean countries have now quashed colonial-era laws criminalizing gay sex

A top court in Barbados has ruled that colonial-era laws that criminalize gay sex in the Caribbean nation are unconstitutional. According to The Associated Press, Monday’s high court ruling makes Barbados the third country in the Caribbean region to repeal such laws this year. Courts in Antigua & Barbuda and St. Kitts and Nevis have already found such laws unconstitutional.

Prior to the Barbados High Court’s ruling on Monday, activists and nonprofit organizations had been actively campaigning for such laws to be quashed. In Barbados, gay men who are found guilty of having sexual intercourse could be sentenced to life in prison. The Caribbean region is said to be conservative.

“It’s gone from a certain ripple effect to a tidal wave in the Caribbean, which is what everyone involved set out to achieve,” Téa Braun, who is the chief executive of the Human Dignity Trust human rights organization, said.

And though such laws weren’t frequently applied, Braun said they made it seem as if LGBTQ people are either criminals or down the pecking order as citizens. 

“The striking down of the laws reverses that and overnight tells the entire society that this is consensual contact and that what people choose to do with their private relationships is not the business of the law,” she told the news outlet.

The court’s ruling was also welcomed by UNAIDS as the organization said it would mitigate the stigma associated with HIV services for LGBTQ people. “Decriminalization saves and changes lives and builds stronger societies,” the organization said.

But though activists and other organizations have been calling for such laws to be repealed in the Caribbean, multiple Christian churches and organizations in the region have been against that, The Associated Press reported. And some politicians as well – citing religion as the reason. 

At the moment, the countries in the Americas that still have laws of such nature are Guyana, Grenada, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Jamaica. A court in St. Lucia is also said to be hearing a similar case. 

Monday’s ruling by the Barbados High Court was oral. A written judgment explaining why the court made the ruling will be available at the beginning of next year. It is also yet to be determined if the government intends to file an appeal against the court’s decision.

But the island nation’s Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, is seen as a pro-LGBTQ person. While serving as the attorney general of the Caribbean nation, she called for such laws to be repealed. 

Last year, Face2Face Africa published a report stating that Caribbean nations lose up to $4.2bn a year due to anti-LGBTQ+ laws. The report, which was put together by Virgin Atlantic and Open for Business (OFB), a coalition of companies advocating for LGBTQ equity, stated that English-speaking Caribbean nations lose up to $4.2 billion a year in revenue, which is about 5.7% of GDP, due to anti-LGBTQ+ laws.

The report added that the region’s tourism sector loses close to $689 million – about 0.93% of its GDP. The report, titled The Economic Case for LGBT+ Inclusion in the Caribbean, is regarded as the largest survey of LGBTQ+ people in the Caribbean and those living in the diaspora. OFB surveyed LGBTQ people living in the 12 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean — Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago — and the diaspora from those nations.