The High Court of Dominica has invalidated a ban on consensual same-sex relations within the nation. The court found that certain provisions of the law, which prohibited same-sex activity, were incompatible with the country's constitution. A local gay man, who initiated the case, argued that the law infringed upon his constitutional rights. The decision was celebrated by LGBTQ activists as a significant advancement in the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ rights in the Caribbean. Specifically, the court declared sections 14 and 16 of the Sexual Offences Act, which criminalized consensual same-sex activity between adults, unconstitutional.
In the ruling, Justice Kimberly Cenac-Phulgence highlighted that these sections violated fundamental rights such as liberty, freedom of expression, and personal privacy, as guaranteed by the country's constitution. The claimant, an openly gay individual, expressed that these laws subjected him to constant fear of legal consequences for engaging in consensual sexual activity and incited hateful and violent behavior towards him and other LGBTQ individuals, thereby inhibiting his ability to live and express himself freely with dignity. Daryl Phillip, the founder of Minority Rights Dominica (MiRiDom), viewed the ruling as a step towards restoring dignity and safeguarding LGBTQ rights, although he acknowledged that combating homophobia is an ongoing process.
In recent years, several Anglophone Caribbean nations, including Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Trinidad and Tobago, have repealed such laws. However, same-sex relations remain criminalized in countries like Guyana, Grenada, Jamaica, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
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