Trinidad and Tobago’s highest court of appeal ruled that laws criminalizing consensual same-sex relations between men violate rights to privacy and family life. (Foto: Instagram)
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London ruled on Nov. 10, 2026, that Trinidad and Tobago’s laws criminalizing consensual same-sex relations between men are incompatible with the rights to privacy and respect for family life. The committee is the Caribbean nation’s highest court of appeal.
The unanimous ruling ends an 11-year legal fight brought by activist Jason Jones, 62, who holds dual citizenship. Jones had won a 2018 decision overturning the laws in Trinidad’s High Court, but the government appealed and that ruling was reversed. The Privy Council ruled in Jones’ favor. It was the first time the court had heard a case concerning the decriminalization of same-sex relations.
Judge Lord Sales said the laws could not be justified in a society that respects individual rights and freedoms. Jones said the laws did not reflect the country’s diverse, multiracial and secular population. They had told LGBTQ+ people they were criminals in their own country, he said, adding that “that message ends today.” Activists hope the ruling will encourage similar legal challenges in other Commonwealth countries, a group made up largely of former British colonies.
Trinidad and Tobago gained independence from the United Kingdom on Aug. 31, 1962, and became a parliamentary republic in 1976. The country has nevertheless retained the Privy Council in London as its final court of appeal. That continuing legal connection to Britain, a remnant of the colonial relationship, has prompted discussion about replacing the British court with the Caribbean Court of Justice, a regional institution that serves as a final court for countries that join its system.
Before the ruling, Trinidad and Tobago was among Commonwealth countries that retained laws inherited from British colonial rule criminalizing same-sex relations. The government argued that constitutional savings clauses protected those laws because they were in force when the country became independent in 1962. Jones’ lawyers argued that the laws violated the right to privacy and that amendments made in 1986, which increased the penalties, removed the laws’ protection under those clauses. Anand Ramlogan, Jones’ lawyer, called the decision a historic victory for LGBTQ+ rights, equality, and respect for private and family life.
