PRIVY COUNCIL TO RULE ON TRINIDAD'S GAY SEX BAN IN HISTORIC CASE

Jason Jones will present a legal challenge to Trinidad and Tobago's laws criminalising same-sex intimacy before the Privy Council's judicial committee in London this week. The case marks the first occasion on which the Privy Council has decided whether to decriminalise same-sex intimacy. Jones has pursued the challenge for over a decade, beginning in 2015. The Privy Council remains Trinidad and Tobago's final court of appeal.

Trinidad's laws against anal sex between consenting men derive from legislation introduced by Britain during its colonial rule. The provisions were formally enacted in Trinidad in 1925 and incorporated into the Sexual Offences Act of 1986. A high court judge, Devindra Rampersad, struck down the laws in 2018, ruling they violated Jones's constitutional rights to privacy and equality before the law. The then-Trinidadian government appealed and overturned that decision, recriminalising the conduct. Six Caribbean LGBTQ+ organisations have submitted statements supporting Jones's case.

Jones stated that his 2018 legal victory inspired Trinidad's first pride event and prompted legal challenges by activists in other countries, including India. He described the personal toll of his campaign, noting isolation and estrangement from family and friends. Britain abolished its own equivalent law in 1967 and subsequently pardoned men convicted under it. The Privy Council's decision will determine whether Trinidad and Tobago's laws remain in force.