Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is one of the few Caribbean nations that still imposes severe criminal penalties on homosexuals and lesbians after the country’s highest court rejected a challenge to anti-gay legislation that dates back to the British colonial era.
Two homosexual men who had campaigned to decriminalize same-sex relationships, Javin Johnson and Sean Macleish, filed the challenge, claiming their sexual orientation had driven them to flee the socially conservative nation.
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Anybody found in a same-sex relationship faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, according to local rules that were reinforced by a 1988 criminal code.
Judge Esco Henry ruled that because Johnson and Macleish are foreign nationals, they lack the legal standing to contest the legislation. The worry that “an unstemmed deluge of new HIV cases” may overwhelm the healthcare system if the rules were abolished was also acknowledged by her as legitimate.
The two individuals were also ordered by the judge to reimburse the Attorney General’s office, one of the case’s defendants, for over $3,000.
It was unclear at first whether Johnson or Macleish intended to challenge the decision to the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal as Reuters was unable to get in touch with them for comment.
Even while these laws are seldom, if ever, implemented, activists contend that they promote physical violence and discrimination against adults who have consensual same-sex relationships.
Human Rights Watch researcher Cristian Gonzalez denounced the decision in a post on X, calling it a “sad day for human rights.”
Together with Jamaica, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Guyana, and Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is one of the six Caribbean countries that still impose prison sentences on homosexuals and lesbians. The island country has about 110,000 residents.
However, in other Caribbean states, the prohibition on homosexual intercourse was lifted in 2018 in Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, and Barbados.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is one of the few Caribbean nations that still imposes severe criminal penalties on homosexuals and lesbians after the country’s highest court rejected a challenge to anti-gay legislation that dates back to the British colonial era.
Two homosexual men who had campaigned to decriminalize same-sex relationships, Javin Johnson and Sean Macleish, filed the challenge, claiming their sexual orientation had driven them to flee the socially conservative nation.
Anybody found in a same-sex relationship faces a maximum of 10 years in prison, according to local rules that were reinforced by a 1988 criminal code.
Judge Esco Henry ruled that because Johnson and Macleish are foreign nationals, they lack the legal standing to contest the legislation. The worry that “an unstemmed deluge of new HIV cases” may overwhelm the healthcare system if the rules were abolished was also acknowledged by her as legitimate.
The two individuals were also ordered by the judge to reimburse the Attorney General’s office, one of the case’s defendants, for over $3,000.
It was unclear at first whether Johnson or Macleish intended to challenge the decision to the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal as Reuters was unable to get in touch with them for comment.
Even while these laws are seldom, if ever, implemented, activists contend that they promote physical violence and discrimination against adults who have consensual same-sex relationships.
Human Rights Watch researcher Cristian Gonzalez denounced the decision in a post on X, calling it a “sad day for human rights.”
Together with Jamaica, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Guyana, and Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is one of the six Caribbean countries that still impose prison sentences on homosexuals and lesbians. The island country has about 110,000 residents.
However, in other Caribbean states, the prohibition on homosexual intercourse was lifted in 2018 in Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, and Barbados.
