On Tuesday, the Barbados High Court overturned regulations from the colonial past that make gay sex illegal. The court determined that it is unlawful to make gay sex a crime.
With this decision, Barbados joins Saint Kitts & Nevis and Antigua as the third nation in the Caribbean to repeal similar laws this year, according to a Reuters article.
Activists and nonprofit organisations that have long fought against laws that forbade homosexual and lesbian sex applauded the High Court’s decision, which Barbados Attorney General Dale Marshall announced on Tuesday.
The Sexual Offenses Act’s Sections 9 and 12 were found to be unlawful by Justice Michelle Weekes on Monday, according to a statement from Attorney General Marshall.
‘In short, we can no longer prosecute persons under these two sections,’ Marshall said and added charges for offences relating to consensual gay sex could not now be maintained.
The High Court has only issued an oral ruling, for now, saying it found such laws unconstitutional. The court won’t release a written judgement detailing its reasons until late January.
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