Saint Vincent and the Grenadines top court upholds gay sex ban

Saint Vincent and the Grenadine’s High Court upheld laws criminalizing gay sex on Friday, met with sadness and criticism from LGBTQ+ activists. The ruling was delivered by Justice Esco Henry, who found that the laws are “reasonably required” to protect public health and morality, particularly the country’s HIV rates.

In light of the southern Caribbean country’s “limited resources,” Henry found that the provisions were “most likely the least drastic means to achieve” the goal of reducing HIV rates as much as possible. She also found that they do not infringe on the Constitution. Henry continued, “[T]o my mind, the thought of a public health crisis occasioned by an unstemmed deluge of new HIV cases, is a real and serious concern which reasonably justifies a public health response of the kind embedded in the challenged provisions.”

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According to ‘Jurist News’, the ruling upheld section 146 of the Criminal Code 1988, which prohibits anal intercourse with a sentence of up to 10 years. The ruling also upheld section 148 of the same code, criminalising public or private same-sex indecent practices. The sections were challenged in a 2019 High Court case seeking constitutional redress of the colonial-era laws, brought by Javin Kevin Vinc Johnson and Sean Macleish. Both claimed they were forced to leave the country as they openly identified as gay. The challenge was unsuccessful, and their claims were rejected. The men were ordered to pay EC$$7,500 (about £2,200) to the attorney general.

A July 2023 Human Rights Watch report found that violence and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in the country, which is rarely prosecuted, encourages a culture of intolerance towards queer people. It also noted that Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits LGBTQ+ discrimination, meaning the country’s continued commitment to these laws is contrary to its international obligations.

Five other English-speaking Caribbean nations also criminalise gay sex: Saint Lucia; Dominica; Jamaica; Guyana and Grenada. Other Caribbean nations have recently repealed similar laws: Antigua and Barbuda (2022); Saint Kitts and Nevis (2022); Barbados (2022) and Trinidad and Tobago (2018).

There has been much international concern regarding the treatment LGBTQ+ people in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as in other Caribbean countries.

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Saint Kitts And Nevis Overturns Colonial-Era Gay Sex Ban