St. Vincent upholds laws criminalizing gay sex in Caribbean island nation in setback for activists

By DÁNICA COTO
Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A top court in St. Vincent and the Grenadines has upheld laws that criminalize gay sex. Friday’s ruling was a blow to activists who have long decried the violence that the LGBTQ+ community has faced on the conservative Caribbean archipelago. The ruling stems from a 2019 lawsuit filed by two gay men from St. Vincent who live abroad and who sought to strike down colonial-era laws that call for 10 years in prison for anal sex and five years for “gross indecency” with another person of the same sex. Cristian González Cabrera, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, called the ruling “a travesty of justice.”