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HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST Jason Jones is taking his case to declare sections of the Sexual Offences Act unconstitutional to the Privy Council in London, Trinidad and Tobago’s final appellate court.
In a social media post on June 6, the UK-based Trinidadian said, “I have just been granted by the TT Court of Appeal, their leave for me to appeal to the Privy Council.
“I now have three months to put together my appeal and get things in place for a hearing at the Privy Council some time next year.”
He said the case could decriminalise millions of LGBTQ+ people across the Commonwealth.
In 2017, Jones challenged Sections 13 and 16 of the Act, which criminalises consensual same-sex intimacy and imposes harsher penalties for male-male relationships. In 2018 the High Court agreed, saying the provisions were unconstitutional.
Under section 13 of the Act, buggery is prohibited and punishes violations with up to 25 years imprisonment. Section 16 deals with “serious indecency,“ defined as acts of sexual gratification other than sexual intercourse, which extends to women, with a maximum term of imprisonment of five years.
Faris Al-Rawi, the attorney general at the time, announced the government would appeal the decision, saying a comprehensive legal resolution was necessary and suggesting legislative review might help address the issue.
On June 24, 2024, Jones started a GoFundMe page, a fundraising platform, hoping to raise £30,000 ($275,056) for his upcoming court appearances.
There he said, “On October 25, 2023, my legal team and I were again before the Appeal Courts to state our case that the High Court ruling should be upheld and this unjust law struck down. I am currently awaiting the judgement from the TT Appeal Court Justices.”
That judgement came on March 25 when the Appeal Court overturned the 2018 ruling. It upheld the criminal status of buggery and serious indecency while reducing penalties for the offences.
In response to the judgement he released a statement on social media. He said the Court of Appeal put a target on the back of LGBTQ+ people and made them lower class citizens. He also expressed his intention to take the matter to the Privy Council.
He said the 2018 ruling by Justice Devindra Rampersad was groundbreaking and had been cited multiple times in similar cases across the world, including India, to remove such discriminatory laws.
In a post on May 12, he said, “The comments regarding the recent homophobic ruling reversing the 2018 decriminalisation victory reveals how deeply entrenched homophobia is in our society and how threatening and violent citizens can be towards our marginalised communities citing these laws as needed to protect their rights to be homophobic!
“I am currently working on my appeal to the Privy Council in London. I always knew the case would end up there.”
Up to 23 hours after Jones’ announcement of his Privy Council case, he received around £200 ($1,834), taking his donations up to £2,937 ($26,928).
Calls and messages to Jones went unanswered.
The post Jason Jones gets nod to take buggery law challenge to Privy Council appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.