Court upholds the ban on sex between men
A court in Saint Vincent upholds the colonial ban on sex between men in 2024. The claimants were living in exile.
On 16 February 2024, Justice Esco Henry of the High Court in Kingstown announced a ruling that the Caribbean queer community had been eagerly awaiting. It turned out differently than hoped. Sections 146 and 148 of the Criminal Code of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, which threaten consensual sex between men with up to ten years in prison, remain in force.
The case had been brought in 2019 by two gay Vincentians who had left their homeland. Javin Johnson was granted asylum in Britain in 2017 because he could not live openly on the islands. Sean Macleish lived in Chicago and wished to be able to return with his partner without fear. Both argued that the colonial-era laws violated their rights to privacy, liberty and protection from discrimination. They were supported by the local HIV organisation VincyCHAP, which later joined the proceedings.
The judge saw it differently. Because the men had lived abroad for years, they lacked standing to sue. The ban did interfere with freedom of expression, but this was justified in view of public health and morals. To make matters worse, both claimants each had to pay the state 7,500 Eastern Caribbean dollars in court costs.
The ruling ran counter to a regional trend. Courts in Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Barbados had previously struck down comparable bans. UNAIDS expressed concern about the consequences for the health of those affected, since criminalisation keeps people away from HIV testing and treatment.
Developments remained contradictory. A few weeks later, a court in Dominica struck down that country's ban, and Saint Lucia followed in 2025. In the same year, however, an appeals court in Trinidad and Tobago overturned that country's landmark 2018 ruling. The Caribbean remains a patchwork.