KINGSTON, Jamaica — A Jamaican LGBTQ+ advocacy group is welcoming a ruling by the Privy Council that deemed as unconstitutional laws criminalising consensual same-sex relations in Trinidad and Tobago, arguing that the decision reinforces the need for equal rights and legal protection across the Caribbean.

The November 10 ruling, handed down in the case brought by gay activist Jason Jones, has been welcomed by the Equality for All Foundation Jamaica, whose Programmes and Advocacy Manager Nickoy Wilson described the decision as a significant affirmation of the rights of same-sex couples.

READ: Privy Council overturns anti-gay laws in Trinidad

“My organisation and the wider LGBT community in Jamaica welcomes the ruling coming out of Trinidad and Tobago. I think this is the first time anti-sodomy laws have gone to the Privy Council from the Caribbean and so the Privy Council ruling in favour of Jason Jones demonstrates that same-sex couples should be accorded the same level of respect, legal protection that heterosexual couples get to enjoy within this context,” Wilson said.

Jones successfully challenged sections 13 and 16 of Trinidad and Tobago’s Sexual Offences Act in the High Court in 2018. However, that decision was overturned by the country’s Court of Appeal in 2025, prompting a further appeal to the Privy Council, which ruled in his favour.

The decision has also drawn attention to Jamaica’s own legislation, with sections 76, 77 and 79 of the Offences Against the Person Act criminalising buggery, attempted buggery and gross indecency between men.

However, Wilson said the Trinidad and Tobago ruling would not directly influence Jamaica’s local jurisprudence because of differences in the constitutional provisions governing the two countries.

“So in Jamaica, we are unable to challenge the law based on it violating our rights and so this ruling is significant not because it can influence our local jurisprudence but because it demonstrates that even our own final appellate court recognises and affirms the rights of same-sex couples,” he said.

In 2023, the Jamaican Supreme Court dismissed a constitutional challenge to the legislation brought by Jamaican-born LGBTQ+ rights activist and attorney Maurice Tomlinson, finding that the constitution’s savings law clause prevented it from examining the constitutionality of the provisions.

Tomlinson has since pursued an appeal before the Privy Council.

Wilson said the latest ruling should also serve as a call to action for the Jamaican Government, warning that the country risks falling behind other Caribbean territories that have moved towards decriminalising same-sex relations.

“I think it is a call to action to the Government to not be left behind. We’ve seen many countries across the Caribbean decriminalise, albeit through the courts, but it will look bad, you know, Jamaica being one of the very last countries in this region to not decriminalise. So I think that really is the significance of this ruling.

“It is kind of showing that the world is progressing while Jamaica is still, you know, here stuck in its old ways. So I wouldn’t consider this a turning point. I think the wheel has been turning for the last couple of years with the decriminalisation that has happened across the region,” he said.

Wilson noted that reluctance among parliamentarians to repeal colonial-era legislation had prompted LGBTQ+ rights advocates in several territories to pursue legal challenges instead.

“I think that parliamentarians generally are reticent when it comes on to repealing these colonial-era laws and that’s why advocates have opted to go through the courts. I think a turning point would be what we see in other countries where the citizens generally are who are demanding equal rights for everyone regardless of, you know, how they identify,” he shared.

Despite welcoming the decision, Wilson cautioned against viewing it as an immediate change in circumstances for LGBTQ+ Jamaicans.

“It offers us encouragement to continue doing the work that we’re doing and it may even encourage other members of the community who weren’t active to become more active in this fight against the burglary law and in this fight for human rights,” he said.