Written by Emma Lewis From Global Voices

Jaevion Nelson@jaevionn



Great news coming out of Trinidad & Tobago where the buggery law has been struck down. Lovely to see evidence of progress across the region. Commendations to Jason Jones and colleagues from organisations there on their success.

We are celebrating with our family as LOVE wins In Trinidad! 🌈
Judge finds the buggery law and serious indecencies unconstitutional as applied to adult consensual acts.
🎥: CCN TV 6 #LoveWins #Trinidad #ShareTheNation #WeStandWithYou

CVC Coalition@cvccoalition



CVC stands in solidarity with the LGBTI community in Trinidad and Tobago as they push ahead for their rights to be recognized.

FROM AN EX-STUDENT IN CANADA! 🏳️‍🌈🇨🇦🇹🇹 😀
“I know I've said it before… But thank you Maurice. Thank you for everything that you do in fighting for the rights of LGBTQ people. Today's victory in T&T is close to home for me. Both of my parents are Trini… My entire family are Trini. My Dad often asks me to go with him to Trinidad. I always say no because I don't feel safe in a country that doesn't care about my rights. I have often been embarrassed to tell people that my background is Trini. I shed tears today when I saw the article regarding the courts striking down the anti-buggery law.
Thank you for fighting for us. As I've said before, you are my Harvey Milk. I thank God for giving the world activists like you.”

Caribbean LGBT gatekeepers, PLEASE support other legal challenges.
#ItsTime

It's heartwarming that a Caribbean court has again offered such a favourable ruling regarding the respect of the rights of LGBT, with Belize being the first. It clearly demonstrates that our courts can uphold justice by recognising and respecting the inherent rights that should be afforded all human beings.

It was not PANCAP that helped in Trinidad and Tobago, it was Jason Jones who took a risk and led the way in a moment of Stubborness. In Belize, it was not PANCAP that helped, it was one person who took a risk and led the way while hundreds loan an invisible hand in the process. In Bahamas, it was not PANCAP, it was a local politician. What we see in the Caribbean is that decrim as a broader issue and that is to raise awareness that fundamental rights belong to all and that political leaders in this region can no longer continue the practice of legislative exclusion or language exclusion in UN outcome documents. LGBT Caribbean exists and that all laws, should follow the principle of inclusion and equal protection under the law. In simple terms countries are not government on the whims of individual morality, but a constitutional one. For Belize, we set the norm when we got independence and accepted our constitution. A lesson that rights exists in an advocacy framework. Now to be clear, decrim in not an end all solution, its just the begining of a reform process that will be years in the making. Bless Jason Jones on this day, your tenaciousness pushed the region along.

“This landmark case signifies a necessary step in the decolonization of our independent Caribbean territories,” B-GLAD Co-director Ro-Ann Mohammed said, while making reference to similar laws in Barbados.
“These laws criminalizing consenting acts of love between autonomous adults were left behind as a relic of colonialism,” Mohammed stressed, adding that Britain discarded similar legislation since 1967, and such laws had no place in the region.

Jamaica Gleaner@JamaicaGleaner

12 Apr


Trinidad and Tobago Court declares buggery law illegal - http://jamaica-gleaner.com/node/709420 

Martin Thesage@Zemi66



What sayeth the Jamaican courts now? Are we just gonna ignore this precedence setting case? Will the church cower the judiciary and the government again? Will emotions and privilege prevail? Or will cowardice give way to logic and sound legal standing? None free, till all free.