Overview

• The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court ruled on July 29 that sections criminalizing “buggery” and “gross indecency” are unconstitutional
• Saint Lucia’s High Court held that the British-era laws infringe on privacy, freedom of expression and protection from discrimination
• Saint Lucia becomes the fifth Eastern Caribbean jurisdiction to decriminalize consensual same-sex relations after Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica and Saint Kitts & Nevis
• The overturned statutes carried penalties of up to 10 years in prison despite rare enforcement, and activists say their removal will reduce stigma and harassment of LGBTQ+ people
• Implementation details are pending while Jamaica, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago still criminalize gay sex