Privy Council Overturns Trinidad & Tobago Gay Sex Ban in Historic Judgment

​PORT OF SPAIN — In a milestone ruling for human rights across the Caribbean, the UK-based Privy Council has struck down Trinidad and Tobago’s colonial-era laws criminalizing private, consensual same-sex relations.

​The unanimous judgment delivered on November 10, 2026, by the nation’s final court of appeal marks the culmination of a grueling nearly ten-year legal battle spearheaded by LGBTQ+ rights campaigner Jason Jones.

​The court ruled that Sections 13 and 16 of the 1986 Sexual Offences Act—which penalized “buggery” and “serious indecency”—breached foundational constitutional guarantees, notably the right to private and family life. The five-member judicial panel firmly rejected arguments that state intrusion into private adult lives could be justified in a modern, democratic society.

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​A Decade-Long Struggle for Equality

​The legal challenge began in 2017 when Jones, an activist and artist who faced severe public hostility and harassment, launched his historic constitutional challenge. Though the High Court initially ruled in his favor in 2018, that victory was subsequently overturned by the local Court of Appeal in March 2025, forcing the matter to the Privy Council in London.

​With this final, unappealable ruling, the statute must now be interpreted so that it ceases to criminalize private intimacy between consenting adults.

​Regional Ripple Effects

​Human rights advocates have hailed the decision as a watershed moment that establishes a powerful precedent for remaining Commonwealth nations retaining colonial-era sodomy laws. Legal experts note that the judgment aligns Trinidad and Tobago with recent progressive rulings in other Caribbean jurisdictions, including Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia, and Dominica, amplifying momentum for systemic decriminalization across the region.