Joy as Belize Supreme Court strikes down gay sex ban

Belize has become the first former British colony in the Caribbean to be freed of its repressive sodomy law.

On Wednesday, the country’s Supreme Court ruled that Section 53, the provision banning gay sex in the criminal code, was unconstitutional.

The news was met with protests by religious groups outside the court, but the government is not expected to appeal the decision.

The ruling was a victory for Caleb Orozco, Executive Director of the United Belize Advocacy Movement (UNIBAM), who brought the case to the court in 2013. He argued that Section 53 violated his rights under the constitution.

Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin agreed with Orozco and ordered the country’s lawmakers to repeal Section 53.

“We won on all grounds – dignity, right to privacy, right to freedom from discrimination, freedom of expression and the equal protection of the law,” commented Orozco on Facebook.

“The Chief justice has also ruled that the definition of “sex” in S. 16 (3) includes sexual orientation consistent with Belize’s international obligations.

“This is game changing and groundbreaking,” added Orozco, who was supported in court by his sister Golda Neal.

Orozco earlier noted that there are more than 30 other cases in the system related to contraventions of Section 53. The ruling could also have a major impact on other countries in the Caribbean that are grappling with anti-sodomy laws.

After the court’s decision, President of UNIBAM Simone Hill stated that “this case is an important part of the march forward in Belize and the Caribbean towards dignity and respect for the human rights of all. Decisions throughout Caribbean history that have had advanced human rights have not been decisions arrived at easily or quickly.”

Dr Carolyn Gomes, Executive Director of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition, told the Jamaica Gleaner: “We are hoping that this is the beginning of the overturning of these archaic colonially imposed laws, which, as the judgment said, do damage to the dignity, rights and freedom of expression of the gay community around the region.”

In Jamaica, activist Maurice Tomlinson has launched a similar legal bid to challenge the constitutionality of laws criminalising consensual sex between men in his country.

Belize is the third nation to decriminalise homosexuality this year, joining Nauru, in the Pacific Ocean, and Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean.