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Gay Sex Is No Longer Illegal In Barbados

Barbados’ top court has struck down colonial-era laws banning gay sex.

Barbados’ top court has struck down colonial-era laws banning gay sex.

The high court issued an oral ruling on Monday Dec. 12, finding the laws unconstitutional after two LGBTQ activists put forward a case.

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Members of the LGBTQ community take part in the LGBTQ Pride Parade in Santo Domingo on July 2, 2017. (ERIKA SANTELICES/AFP via Getty Images)

The court will release a written judgement on the case in January.

Activists have said that although the ruling is rarely enforced, it marginalizes and discriminates LGBTQ people.

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Members of the LGBTQ community pose during a protest against the approval in the Chamber of Deputies of a new criminal code, outside the National Congress in Santo Domingo, on July 5, 2021. (Photo by ERIKA SANTELICES/afp/AFP via Getty Images)

“The striking down of the laws reverses that and overnight tells the entire society that this is consensual contact and that what people choose to do with their private relationships is not the business of the law,” the chief executive of the London-based human rights organization Human Dignity Trust told AP.

The ruling comes after Antigua and Barbuda also found similar laws unconstitutional earlier in the year, followed by St Kitts and Nevis.

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Supporters of LGBTQ rights and equality conclude three weeks of solidarity-building events with a festive parade during the first annual Pride Arts Festival on July 28, 2017 in Port of Spain, Trinidad. (Photo by Sean Drakes/Getty Images)

A similar case in St. Lucia is still pending.

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