A high court in St Vincent and the Grenadines has maintained laws that make gay sex illegal, disappointing activists who have long protested the discrimination and violence experienced by the LGBTQ+ community on the traditionally conservative Caribbean islands.
The decision made on Friday by the high court of St. Vincent is a result of a legal case initiated in 2019 by two homosexual individuals residing in the UK and US, but originally from St. Vincent. Their aim was to challenge outdated laws from the colonial era that carry a penalty of 10 years of imprisonment for engaging in anal intercourse and 5 years for any form of “gross indecency” with a person of the same gender.
According to Cristian González Cabrera, a leading expert at Human Rights Watch, the decision is a gross miscarriage of justice and indicates implicit government support for LGBTQ+ discrimination.
He expressed that it is a gloomy occasion for the protection of human rights in St Vincent and the Grenadines, and the decision will diminish the authority of law for all individuals in the nation.
It was uncertain if anyone intended to challenge the decision.
Téa Braun, the CEO of Human Dignity Trust, a human rights organization based in London, expressed disapproval of the decision, citing that it was partially influenced by the fact that the two men contesting the laws do not reside in St. Vincent.
“I am extremely disappointed,” she stated. “The verdict is drastically different from the rulings made by neighboring courts in Barbados, Antigua, and St Kitts just last year, as well as courts in other countries.”
Although seldom enforced, activists argue that the laws in St Vincent and the Grenadines contribute to the acceptance of physical and verbal mistreatment towards the LGBTQ+ community in the small island nation with a population of around 100,000.
A report from Human Rights Watch last year highlighted numerous cases of mistreatment and prejudice towards the LGBTQ+ community in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. These included a teenage student having his arm broken and a man suffering permanent brain damage after being struck in the head with a bottle.
The leader of the island chain country, Ralph Gonsalves, has previously spoken out against prejudice towards individuals who identify as gay.
Together with St. Vincent and the Grenadines, there are five additional Caribbean nations where gay sex is illegal and punishable by law. These countries include St. Lucia, Dominica, Jamaica, Guyana, and Grenada.
In recent years, four additional Caribbean countries have abolished these laws: Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua and Barbuda.
Source: theguardian.com
