{"id":14396,"date":"2018-04-12T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-12T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=14396"},"modified":"2018-04-12T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-04-12T18:00:00","slug":"trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/","title":{"rendered":"TRINIDAD-High Court rules in favour of repealing buggery law"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>

The High Court on Thursday has ruled it unconstitutional to impede on the rights of homosexual men and anal sex.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

The challenge against the state was brought by gay rights activist Jason Jones in 2017.<\/p>\n

However, a final ruling will be handed down in three months.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n
\"Jason<\/a>
Jason Jones<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Following the court\u2019s decision members of the LGBT Community, celebrated on the outskirts of the building.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

The court matter was brought to repeal sections 13 and 16 of the Sexual Offenses Act which criminalizes buggery and serious indecency even between consenting adults.<\/p>\n

Jones claimed that the long-standing legislation contravenes his constitutional rights to privacy and freedom of thought and expression in addition to being in direct contradiction to this country\u2019s international human rights obligations.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

\u201cIt was a stunning victory for human rights and for all Trinidad and Tobago citizens \u2026I think we must all come together now after this judgement and embrace each other in true love and respect and honour for each citizen. This is not about LGBT, it is about the rights and freedoms that are enshrined in our constitution and I hope that everybody will come away with this calmly and collectively, looking at what the future should be for\u00a0 our nation. We have to now start to pull together and I think today is a starting moment for us to do that,\u201d said Jones, following the ruling.<\/p>\n

When the ruling was filed last year, Jones told reporters that he decided to file the lawsuit due to his personal experience as a homosexual in Trinidad and Tobago including him being disowned by his family forcing him to migrate to the United Kingdom.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t wish to shove a gay agenda down you (the public) throat or attack your morals, religion or spirituality, I am doing this for the betterment of our nation, and for our feature generations,\u201d he then said.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

The lawsuit is one of several landmark cases filed by Caribbean LGBT activists challenging regional homophobic laws.<\/p>\n

In 2016, Jamaican lawyer Maurice Tomlinson challenged the immigration laws in Trinidad and Tobago\u00a0and Belize which allow for refusal of entry to regional homosexuals visitors.<\/p>\n

While the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) dismissed his case, both Governments admitted that the laws were not enforced by their immigration officials.<\/p>\n

Later that year, Belize\u2019s Supreme Court struck down that country\u2019s sodomy laws, after a case similar to Jones\u2019 was filed by a local activist.<\/p>\n

However, unlike Trinidad and Tobago Belize did not have a saving clause protecting its legislation from review.<\/p>\n

The government plans to appeal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The High Court on Thursday has ruled it unconstitutional to impede on the rights of homosexual men and anal sex. The challenge against the state was brought by gay rights activist Jason Jones in 2017. However, a final ruling will be handed down in three months. Jason Jones Following the court\u2019s decision members of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional"],"yoast_head":"\nTRINIDAD-High Court rules in favour of repealing buggery law - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TRINIDAD-High Court rules in favour of repealing buggery law\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The High Court on Thursday has ruled it unconstitutional to impede on the rights of homosexual men and anal sex. The challenge against the state was brought by gay rights activist Jason Jones in 2017. However, a final ruling will be handed down in three months. Jason Jones Following the court\u2019s decision members of the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antigua News Room\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-12T18:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/LGBT.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AntiguaNewsRoom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\"},\"headline\":\"TRINIDAD-High Court rules in favour of repealing buggery law\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-12T18:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-04-12T18:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/\"},\"wordCount\":433,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1200\/h:800\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/LGBT.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Regional\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/\",\"name\":\"TRINIDAD-High Court rules in favour of repealing buggery law - Antigua News Room\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1200\/h:800\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/LGBT.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-12T18:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-04-12T18:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1200\/h:800\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/LGBT.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1200\/h:800\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/LGBT.jpg\",\"width\":\"1200\",\"height\":\"800\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"TRINIDAD-High Court rules in favour of repealing buggery law\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\",\"name\":\"Antigua News Room\",\"description\":\"News As It Happens\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Antigua Newsroom\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg\",\"width\":1260,\"height\":1260,\"caption\":\"Antigua Newsroom\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/AntiguaNewsRoom\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/antiguanewsroom\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5\",\"name\":\"Editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"caption\":\"Editor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/author\/editor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"TRINIDAD-High Court rules in favour of repealing buggery law - Antigua News Room","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"TRINIDAD-High Court rules in favour of repealing buggery law","og_description":"The High Court on Thursday has ruled it unconstitutional to impede on the rights of homosexual men and anal sex. The challenge against the state was brought by gay rights activist Jason Jones in 2017. However, a final ruling will be handed down in three months. Jason Jones Following the court\u2019s decision members of the […]","og_url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/","og_site_name":"Antigua News Room","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom","article_published_time":"2018-04-12T18:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/LGBT.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AntiguaNewsRoom","twitter_site":"@AntiguaNewsRoom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Editor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/"},"author":{"name":"Editor","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5"},"headline":"TRINIDAD-High Court rules in favour of repealing buggery law","datePublished":"2018-04-12T18:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2018-04-12T18:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/"},"wordCount":433,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1200\/h:800\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/LGBT.jpg","articleSection":["Regional"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/","name":"TRINIDAD-High Court rules in favour of repealing buggery law - Antigua News Room","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1200\/h:800\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/LGBT.jpg","datePublished":"2018-04-12T18:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2018-04-12T18:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1200\/h:800\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/LGBT.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1200\/h:800\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/LGBT.jpg","width":"1200","height":"800"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/trinidad-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-repealing-buggery-law\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TRINIDAD-High Court rules in favour of repealing buggery law"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/","name":"Antigua News Room","description":"News As It Happens","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#organization","name":"Antigua Newsroom","url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mlavawteztbj.i.optimole.com\/w:1080\/h:1080\/q:mauto\/f:best\/https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_1584.jpeg","width":1260,"height":1260,"caption":"Antigua Newsroom"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/antiguanewsroom","https:\/\/x.com\/AntiguaNewsRoom","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/antiguanewsroom\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/36cac05ef6398fe56ae3e6317f8535c5","name":"Editor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","caption":"Editor"},"url":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/author\/editor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/14398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/anr-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}