A court in England has overturned a law prohibiting gay sexual acts in Trinidad and Tobago that dates back over 100 years to the British colonial era in the twin-island Caribbean nation.
In its ruling, London-based Judicial Committee of the Privy Council – the highest appeals court for several former British colonies – said that it agreed with a lower court ruling that had previously struck down the island’s government law, which had criminalized “buggery” and indecency” between gay partners.
The law had allowed for prison terms of up to five years for “buggery” and two years for “gross indecency.” In contemporary legal systems, the term “buggery” is largely obsolete and considered offensive.
Trinidad and Tobago, an independent country, remains a republic in the British Commonwealth.
While a number of other former colonies have overturned or repealed colonial-era sodomy laws — with England itself having decriminalized gay sex in the 1960s — similar restrictions remain in dozens of others.
[OP] cnn | 5 hours ago
A court in England has overturned a law prohibiting gay sexual acts in Trinidad and Tobago that dates back over 100 years to the British colonial era in the twin-island Caribbean nation.
In its ruling, London-based Judicial Committee of the Privy Council – the highest appeals court for several former British colonies – said that it agreed with a lower court ruling that had previously struck down the island’s government law, which had criminalized “buggery” and indecency” between gay partners.
The law had allowed for prison terms of up to five years for “buggery” and two years for “gross indecency.” In contemporary legal systems, the term “buggery” is largely obsolete and considered offensive.
Trinidad and Tobago, an independent country, remains a republic in the British Commonwealth.
While a number of other former colonies have overturned or repealed colonial-era sodomy laws — with England itself having decriminalized gay sex in the 1960s — similar restrictions remain in dozens of others.