On 8 July, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London will hear the final appeal in one of the most important LGBTQIA+ rights cases of our generation. Join us outside the Privy Council as we stand together for dignity, equality and freedom, and send a clear message: Love is not a crime, and colonial laws that criminalise love have no place in the modern world.
Background
For more than a decade, British-Trinidadian activist Jason Jones has fought to overturn colonial-era laws that criminalise same-sex intimacy in Trinidad and Tobago. These laws were imposed during British rule and continue to cast a long shadow over LGBTQIA+ lives across the Caribbean and the Commonwealth.
In 2018, Jason won a historic victory when Trinidad and Tobago's High Court ruled that these laws were unconstitutional. That judgment inspired similar legal challenges across the Caribbean and beyond. However, parts of the decision were overturned on appeal, and the case has now reached its final stage before the Privy Council in London.
The damage caused by these laws is very real. They fuel stigma, discrimination, violence, torture, exclusion, and fear. They send a message that LGBTQIA+ people are somehow less deserving of dignity, equality and safety. For many, they create an environment where harassment, abuse and violence can flourish.
The outcome could have consequences far beyond Trinidad and Tobago, influencing the lives of millions of LGBTQIA+ people across the Caribbean and in other countries where similar colonial-era laws remain in force. This is about more than one court case. It is about whether people can live openly, love freely and exist without fear of being treated as criminals for who they are. It is about ending one of the last remaining legacies of colonial laws that still criminalise LGBTQIA+ people simply because of whom they love.
This gathering is being organised by Colours Caribbean, which has been granted intervener status in the appeal by the Privy Council alongside other four Caribbean organisations, and People Of Colours UK, in solidarity with Jason Jones, and LGBTQIA+ communities throughout the Caribbean and Commonwealth.
Join us outside the Privy Council as we stand together for dignity, equality and freedom.
Together, we will send a clear message:
Love is not a crime, and colonial laws that criminalise love have no place in the modern world.