Laws in Trinidad and Tobago were changed in 2018 to allow consenting men to have sex.
Sodomy laws in Trinidad and Tobago were amended to allow adult men to have sex with each other.
Justice Devindra Rampersad gave a final ruling on legal challenges by LGBT+ activist Jason Jones, to amend the wording of certain sections of the Sexual Offences Act.
Two sections underwent wording change.
Wording has been amended in section 13, with the words “without consent”. The section now reads,
“13. (1) A person who commits the offence of buggery is liable on conviction to imprisonment for twenty-five years. (2) In this section “buggery” means sexual intercourse “without consent” per anum by a male person with a male person or by a male person with a female person.”
In section 16 the words “a male person and a female person” are deleted and replaced with “persons”
“(1) A person who commits an act of serious indecency on or towards another is liable on conviction to imprisonment for five years.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to an act of serious indecency committed in private between—
(a) a husband and his wife; (b) “persons” each of whom is sixteen years of age or more, both of
whom consent to the commission of the act; or (c) persons to whom section 20(1) and (2) and (3) of the Children Act apply. (3) An act of “serious indecency” is an act, other than
sexual intercourse (whether natural or unnatural), by a person involving the use of the genital organ for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire.
The changes came after judge Devindra Rampersad ruled those two sections of the Sexual Offences Act unconstitutional in April of 2018.
Other gay rights in Trinidad and Tobago?
Despite the 2018 move to be more accepting of LGBT+ people, other laws to protect gay people from discrimination do not yet exist. LGBT+ do not enjoy the same rights and privileges as heterosexual individuals and opposite-sex couples.
LGBT+ people are not permitted to adopt, there is no recognition of same-sex relationships. Gays are not allowed to serve openly in the military and there are zero law protecting LGBT+ folk from discriminations based on sexuality or gender ID.
