Trinidad and Tobago’s Court of Appeal on Tuesday overturned a High Court decision on the act of buggery. The Appeal Court has effectively made buggery and “gross indecency” illegal again.
Section 13 of Trinidad’s Sexual Offences act of 2000 makes buggery illegal and punishable by imprisonment.
However, back in April 2018, Trinidad’s High Court ruled that the country’s buggery laws were unconstitutional as they infringe on rights of LGBT citizens and criminalized consensual sex between adults. The matter was taken before the court by Trinidad’s social activist Jason Jones. Jones, a homosexual, was born in Trinidad but resides in the United Kingdom. He found the law offensive, saying that it goes against his right to equality.
With the reversal of the decision, it matters not if the act is carried out in absolute privacy, it still attracts a penalty of imprisonment, up to five years. Previously, the maximum sentence stood at 25 years but this was modified.
Buggery also remains illegal in Guyana. Local NGO, Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), had lauded Trinidad’s court decision to make consensual buggery legal. In fact, late last year, that body launched a Guyana Together campaign which sought to, among other things, increase public tolerance of gays and influence law makers to legalize the act of buggery in Guyana.
