SASOD calls for Guyana to follow Antigua and Barbuda’s lead in decriminalising same-sex intimacy
Antigua and Barbuda has ruled a law criminalising same-sex acts between consenting adults as unconstitutional, prompting local LGBT activist Joel Simpson to urge Guyana to follow suit.
On Tuesday, Antigua and Barbuda’s high court rules that the country’s “anti-buggery” laws contravened constitutionally guaranteed rights to liberty, freedom of expression and protection of personal privacy.
Joel Simpson, Managing Director of the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) said, “It goes without saying that laws criminalising same sex intimacy are unconstitutional. We’ve known this for a long time and the courts have proven it repeatedly.”
The 1995 Act has its roots in British colonial-era legislation that forbid "buggery" and "indecency" and hopes are now high that the ruling will pave the way for similar moves in other parts of the region, such as Guyana.
“Governments, especially in particular the Guyana Government, need to take a proactive approach to human rights and constitutional reform and legal reform specifically – and repeal the laws.”
The case in Antigua and Barbuda was brought forward Attorney Andrew O’Kola led by Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes represented the claimants in what has been coined a monumental victory for same-sex couples living in Antigua and Barbuda.
“Consensual love should never be a crime,” O’Kola quoted, speaking to the Antigua Observer.
“The law is no longer seeking to police or legislate against what people do in their homes.
“Each consenting adult has a right to love and express love in the manner they choose, without the state’s intrusion.”
He continued, “Antigua and Barbuda now leads the Eastern Caribbean as having recognised the illegality of punishing a person for who they love.”
Simpson hinted that other constitutional challenges in Barbados and St Lucia are expected to be concluded later this year.
Recent years have seen the rise of a vibrant gay rights movement across the region, including the staging of Pride parades in Barbados and Guyana.
November 2018 saw a century-old ban on "cross-dressing" in Guyana struck out, while in the same year laws prohibiting homosexuality in Trinidad were also overturned.
Simpson said, “The Government can simply bring a bill to remove sections 351 to 353 of the criminal law offences act which criminalises same sex intimacy.”
Members of the Government have also voiced support for LGBTQ rights in Guyana. In her 2021 Budget Presentation, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand said;
“We must not use people's sexual orientation or what we believe it is or ought to be to disparage people. We cannot... and it ought to be condemned and rejected... I say here now to all persons of the LGBTQ community: you have a friend in me. We will not tolerate the disparaging or putting down of anybody in the LGBTQ community of the using of the idea that someone could be, to disparage that person. It will not be tolerated!"
(BBC)
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