St. Kitts and Nevis overturns ban on gay sex in homophobic Caribbean

A regional court in the Caribbean has ruled that a ban on gay sex in St. Kitts and Nevis is unconstitutional.

According to the ruling, the injunction violated the right to privacy and thus overturned one of the few bans on gay sex still in place in the region.

The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court ruled against two parts of the Crimes Against the Person Act, passed in the twin-island nation in 1873, which provided up to 10 years in prison for gay sex or attempting it.

The law criminalizing homosexual sex is inconsistent with the Constitution “and as such is null and void and of no force or effect,” Judge Trevor M. Ward wrote in an Aug. 29 ruling.

Jamal Jeffers filed the lawsuit a gay man from the Caribbean nation and a nonprofit organization called Saint Kitts and Nevis Alliance for Equality.

The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court hears disputes involving members of the Organization of the Eastern Caribbean States, which includes six independent countries and three British overseas territories.

Perversion laws remain in effect in several Caribbean states, including Jamaica and Barbados.

Although they are rarely enforced, gay rights activists say their abolition would help reduce widespread homophobia.

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