On 22 April, the High Court of Dominica overturned a colonial-era ban on consensual same-sex relations. The ruling came in response to a civil society lawsuit, following in the footsteps of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and St Kitts and Nevis, where similar bans were struck down in 2022. Dominica’s civil society continues to work to win further rights, while seeking to shift social attitudes and behaviours and banish the stigma, discrimination and violence that limit access to legally recognised rights. LGBTQI+ activists also continue to push for the five Commonwealth Caribbean states that still criminalise same-sex relations to follow suit.

Content warning: this article contains language some may find offensive.

On 22 April, Dominica’s High Court struck down two sections of the country’s Sexual Offences Act that criminalised consensual same-sex relations, finding them unconstitutional. This made Dominica the sixth country in the Commonwealth Caribbean – and the fourth in the Eastern Caribbean – to decriminalise same-sex relations through the courts, and the first in 2024.

Similar decisions were made in Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis and Barbados in July, August and December 2022 – but progress then threatened to stall. Change in Dominica revives the hopes of LGBTQI+ activists in the five remaining English-speaking Caribbean states – Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines – that still criminalise same-sex relations, particularly in those where similar legal challenges are ongoing. Sooner than later, one of will be next. A small island has made a big difference.

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Winds of change

The criminalisation of consensual gay sex in the Anglophone Caribbean dates back to the British colonial era. All former British colonies in the region inherited identical criminal laws against homosexuality targeting either LGBTQI+ people in general or gay men in particular. They typically retained them after independence and through subsequent criminal law reforms.

That’s what happened in Dominica, which became independent in 1978. Its 1998 Sexual Offences Act retained criminal provisions dating back to the 1860s. Section 16 of that law made sex between adult men, described as ‘buggery’, punishable with up to 10 years’ imprisonment and possible compulsory psychiatric confinement.

The offence listed in section 14, ‘gross indecency’, was initially punishable by up to five years in jail if committed by two same-sex adults. The previous development was regressive: an amendment introduced in 2016 increased the penalty to 12 years.

As in other Caribbean countries with similar provisions, prosecutions for these crimes have been rare in recent decades, and have never resulted in a conviction. But while on the books, they’ve been effective in stigmatising LGBTQI+ people, legitimising social prejudice and hate speech, enabling violence, including by police, obstructing access to essential social services, particularly healthcare, and denying people the full protection of the law.

Change has begun only in the past decade, but it’s been rapid. The Caribbean’s first public Pride event, a measure of the boldness and growing visibility of the LGBTQI+ movement, was held in 2015 in Jamaica. At the week-long gathering, LGBTQI+ people experienced the affirmation and shared sense of purpose that comes from togetherness and visibility. Soon, the tide began to turn, with bans on same-sex relations overturned by the courts in Belize in 2016 and Trinidad and Tobago in 2018. More have followed.

The legal case

In July 2019, an unnamed gay man identified as ‘BG’ filed a legal case challenging sections 14 and 16 of the Sexual Offences Act. The defendants named in the complaint were the Attorney General, the Bishop of Dominica’s capital Roseau, the Anglican Church and the Methodist Church. The Dominica Association of Evangelical Churches was also listed as an interested party.

The lawsuit was supported by Minority Rights Dominica (MiRiDom), the country’s main LGBTQI+ advocacy group, and three international allies: the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, the University of Toronto’s International Human Rights Program and Lawyers Without Borders. The law was challenged as discriminatory and an enabler of violence against LGBTQI+ people.

The High Court heard the case in September 2022, and on 22 April 2024, Justice Kimberly Cenac-Phulgence issued a ruling setting out the reasons why sections 14 and 16 violated the applicant’s constitutional rights to liberty, freedom of expression and privacy, and were therefore null and void.

Voices from the frontline

Daryl Phillip is founder and coordinator of Minority Rights Dominica (MiRiDom), a civil society organisation that advocates for people in Dominica who are denied their human rights on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

 

MiRiDom initiated the legal challenge that led to the decision. We filed the case and played a crucial role throughout the process. We engaged in consultations, negotiations and discussions with various stakeholders, including the public, government officials, religious leaders, foreign embassies and regional and international bodies up to the United Nations. We helped raise awareness, build support and promote dialogue on issues of equality and discrimination.

We also worked with other civil society groups and people who contributed to the legal and advocacy efforts. The Jamaica AIDS Society played a key role by developing programmes to support LGBTQI+ people in the Eastern Caribbean, and the HIV Legal Network of Canada supported us with legal fees. The Rights Advocacy Project of the Faculty of Law at the University of the West Indies provided a legal perspective on the anti-sodomy laws that are common in the Commonwealth Caribbean.

Advocating for LGBTQI+ rights in a small community like ours, with a population of only 70,000, has presented unique challenges. Many LGBTQI+ people have found it difficult to express their sexual orientation or gender identity for fear of criticism or victimisation. Nevertheless, we have persevered in our efforts to create a more inclusive and accepting environment.

The LGBTQI+ community in our area has been largely supportive of our initiatives. However, many people can still find it daunting to come out and openly support LGBTQI+ rights. Fear of potential repercussions, including ostracism, has led some to stay cautious about publicly expressing their identity. Despite this, a dedicated group of advocates, albeit small in number, have remained steadfast in their commitment to LGBTQI+ rights.

There have been moments of fatigue or setbacks along the way, but the recent court ruling gives us renewed hope to continue our struggle. Our focus will continue to be on promoting understanding, empathy and respect for LGBTQI+ people. We know that it is an ongoing journey to achieve full inclusion and acceptance of LGBTQI+ people, and we still have a long way to go. It will take sustained effort to get there, but we are determined to continue with patience and perseverance.

 

This is an edited extract of our conversation with Daryl. Read the full interview here.

The backlash

LGBTQI+ advocates around the world welcomed the court ruling, as did UNAIDS – the United Nations agency leading the global effort to end HIV/AIDS. But resistance wasn’t long in coming.

Religious institutions, which hold a lot of influence in Dominica, were quick to decry gains in LGBTQI+ rights as losses in moral values. The day after the ruling was announced, Dominica’s Catholic Church published a statement reaffirming its position that sex should only take place within a heterosexual marriage and, while expressing compassion towards LGBTQI+ people, reiterated its belief in the centrality of traditional marriage and family. The Seventh-day Adventists expressed alarm about the potential of the court ruling to lead to same-sex unions and marriages. Some faith leaders voiced outright bigoty, with one prominent figure calling sexual acts between persons of the same sex an ‘abomination’.

The road ahead

Having decriminalised same-sex relations, Dominica is now ranked 116th out of 198 countries on Equaldex’s Equality Index, which rates countries according to their LGBTQI+ friendliness. There’s clearly much work to be done. Outstanding issues include protection against discrimination in employment and housing, marriage equality and adoption rights. LGBTQI+ activists will also continue to push for the recognition of non-binary genders, the legalisation of gender change and the prohibition of conversion therapy.

The Equality Index makes clear that, as in all the Caribbean countries that have recently decriminalised same-sex relations, changes to laws remain far ahead of social attitudes, with considerable public homophobia. As the instant conservative reactions to the court ruling suggest, changing laws and policies isn’t nearly enough. Shifting social attitudes must now be a top priority.

Dominican LGBTQI+ activists know this, which is why they’ve been working to challenge prejudice and foster understanding since long before launching their legal challenge – and why they see the court victory as not the end of a journey but a stepping stone to further change.

The challenge for Dominica’s LGBTQI+ civil society is to replace the vicious circle of legal prohibition, which has reinforced social stigma, with a virtuous one in which legal progress normalises the presence and social acceptance of LGBTQI+ people, which in turn enables effective access to legally enshrined rights.

But they’ll take heart from being part of a broader regional and global trend. While working to ensure rights are realised domestically, they’ll also offer a powerful example that change can result to the circa 64 countries around the world that still criminalise gay sex, including the five holdouts in the Commonwealth Caribbean. More progress will come.

OUR CALLS FOR ACTION

  • The government of Dominica should review and reform all laws and policies that discriminate against LGBTQI+ people.
  • Dominican LGBTQI+ rights groups should continue to push for legal and social change.
  • Regional and international LGBTQI+ rights organisations should step up their campaigns for decriminalisation in the five remaining Commonwealth Caribbean countries that still ban same-sex relations.

For interviews or more information, please contact research@civicus.org

Cover photo by David Levingstone/Getty Images