Jason Jones will take his case to the UK’s Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE BY GETTY IMAGES/CANVA
A landmark legal challenge of laws that criminalise LGBTQIA+ people in Trinidad & Tobago is set to take place in a Privy Council hearing in July. Jason Jones, a human rights defender, is hoping to free millions of people from these discriminatory laws.
In 2018, Jones filed a historic lawsuit in the High Court of Trinidad and Tobago, challenging the constitutionality of Sections 13 and 16 in the Sexual Offences Act 1986. In this Act, section 13 prohibited “buggery” with a maximum term of imprisonment of 25 years. Under section 16, “serious indecency” was also prohibited, with a maximum term of imprisonment of five years. In particular, section 16 extended this prohibition to women. In Jones v Trinidad and Tobago, the High Court ruled that sections 13 and 16 of the Act were unconstitutional.
However, in 2025, the Court of Appeal allowed the Attorney General’s appeal against the 2018 High Court ruling. This was due to the savings law clause in the Constitution, which prevents 1925 colonial-era laws from being reviewed. As a result, the effect of the Court of Appeal’s order is that same-sex relations between men only will be criminalised again in Trinidad & Tobago.
Following this overturning of his victory, Jones will take his case to the UK’s Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which remains the twin island republic’s highest court of appeal. This is the first time the Privy Council will hear an LGBTQIA+ decriminalisation legal challenge, and it provides a historic opportunity to confront British colonial laws that impact LGBTQIA+ rights across multiple Commonwealth countries. Victory in this hearing will assist the decriminalisation of LGBTQIA+ identities in at least 10 other countries.
Earlier this month (14 May), Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP hosted a parliamentary reception on Commonwealth homosexuality decriminalisation on behalf of Jones.
Jones co-founded the first LGBTQIA+ advocacy organisation in the Southern Caribbean, The Lambda Group, in 1992. He was on the board of the Stonewall Immigration Group – now Rainbow Migration – which won the right of abode in the UK for an overseas partner of an LGBTQIA+ UK citizen in 1997. His victory in 2018 has been cited in the decriminalisation of LGBTQIA+ identities in India.
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