The High Court of Antigua and Barbuda ruled that laws criminalizing LGBTQIA people in the Caribbean nation are discriminatory.
As a former British colony, the country also has the “anti-buggery law” which basically prohibits LGBTQIA people from engaging even in consensual sexual practices. Specifically, sections 12 and 15 of the Sexual Offences Act of 1995 – inherited from British colonial rule – criminalizes penetrative sex and other sexual acts between consenting adults, respectively. Those found guilty could be imprisoned for up to 15 years.
According to the new ruling from the court, criminalizing intimate relationships between consenting adults contradicts the Antiguan constitutional rights to liberty, protection of the law, freedom of expression, protection of personal privacy and protection from discrimination on the basis of sex – which the court said actually includes sexual orientation.
“The right to privacy extends beyond the right to be left alone, and includes the concept of dignity of the individual, aspects of physical and social identity and the right to develop and establish relationships with other human beings,” the court stated.
The ruling came after a case filed by a gay Antiguan man, David Orden; a local organization, Women Against Rape; and a regional LGBTQIA organisation, Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE).
Antigua and Barbuda is now the third country in the Caribbean to decriminalize homosexuality through the courts. There are also constitutional challenges in Barbados, St Lucia, and St Kitts and Nevis.
