In a significant ruling this morning, the Dominica High Court declared sections 14 and 16 of the Sexual Offences Act of Dominica unconstitutional, effectively decriminalizing homosexual sex in the country. The decision has far-reaching implications for human rights and the role of religion in Dominica.
The case was brought before the court in 2022 by a gay man who sought to have two sections of the Sexual Offences Act (SOA) that criminalize consensual same-sex activities ruled unconstitutional. The case to end the criminalization of LGBT people in Dominica was supported by Minority Rights Dominica (MiRiDom) and the HIV Legal Network, working alongside the claimant who was not named because of risk to his safety, according to the claimants.
The claimant was represented by attorney Cara Shillingford. The claimants argued that the provisions in the Sexual Offences Act violated their fundamental rights to privacy and equality. The Attorney General’s Office defended the existing law. Attorney Joelle Harris represented the Bishop of Roseau (representing the Catholic Church) and the Anglican Church while Attorney Joshua Francis represented the Dominica Association of Evangelical Churches, as intervening parties.
Under sections 14 and 16 of the SOA, sexual activity between consenting partners of the same sex is prohibited — offences that were first enacted in 1873, when Dominica was under British colonial rule. The man who launched claims to have faced “discrimination, hostility, and horrific violence” in Dominica because he is gay.
“Dominica’s 1978 Constitution guarantees the rights to privacy, protection from discrimination, liberty, security of the person, freedom from inhuman or degrading punishment, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly and association,” declared MiriDom in a press statement issued when the matter was first brought to trial in 2022. “Sections 14 and 16 of the SOA violate these rights in numerous ways.”
Today’s ruling effectively makes Dominica a member of the global community recognizing the rights of same-sex adults to engage in consensual sexual activities without fear of prosecution.
Founder and Coordinator of Minority Rights Dominica (MiRiDom), Daryl Phillip, has called a press conference for later today to discuss the ruling.
