British court decriminalizes same-sex relations in Trinidad and Tobago, setting wider precedent

A unanimous ruling in London

That lower court found two sections of Trinidad and Tobago’s 1986 law, which targeted private, consensual same-sex relations, to be unconstitutional. A Trinidad appeals court had reversed the decision in 2025.

A victory for advocates

The ruling invalidated laws criminalizing homosexuality in Trinidad and Tobago and could set a precedent for challenges to similar laws in other Caribbean nations and possibly beyond. Advocates for L.G.B.T.Q. rights in the country called it a hard-fought victory.

Jason Jones, an L.G.B.T.Q. activist and key plaintiff in the case since 2015, described the decision as a “vindication.” He said it would give hope to young L.G.B.T.Q. people facing fear of legal and societal discrimination.

Colonial-era legal ties remain

Trinidad’s attorney general argued that the law preserved traditional family values. The government’s case also relied on “savings provisions,” a legal mechanism that protects many laws dating from the British colonial era.

Jones noted that lawyers had to seek intervention from a British-based court to challenge the colonial-era law. Trinidad gained independence in 1962, decades before the case reached the Privy Council.