Barbados High Court Scraps Colonial-Era Buggery Law

Pink News reports:

On Monday, 12 December, the High Court of Barbados further undid its colonial-era homosexuality laws by scrapping Sections 9 and 12 of the Barbados Sexual Offences Act.

Also known as “buggery” and “serious indecency” laws, which criminalised consensual same-sex intimacy, punishment ranged from life imprisonment under Section 9, and up to 10 years in jail under Section 12.

Chief executive of the Human Dignity Trust, Téa Braun, said: “This is a resounding victory for LGBT people in Barbados, which is the third country in the region to decriminalise through the courts this year.

Read the full article. Earlier this year similar laws were struck down in St. Kitts and Nevins and in Antigua. Six Caribbean nations continue to criminalize homosexuality, including Jamaica.

Barbados the Republic repeals buggery and gross indecency laws, confirming its commitment to upholding human rights for all… (1 of 2)
.#LGBTlitigationBarbados#barbadosbuggeryjudgment#barbadosgrossindecencyjudgment#Barbadosjudgment #CaribbeanLGBTQ pic.twitter.com/4FHBhz21y9

— ECADE (@EC_Equality) December 12, 2022

This judgment, the 3rd this year in the Caribbean, consolidates the rights of all Barbadians to privacy and freedom of expression, and impacts LGBTQ+ people across the eastern Caribbean.
.#LGBTlitigationBarbados#barbadosbuggeryjudgment#Barbadosjudgment #CaribbeanLGBTQ

— ECADE (@EC_Equality) December 12, 2022