Privy Council Rules Trinidad and Tobago's Gay Sex Laws Unconstitutional

On Nov. 10, 2026, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London, Trinidad and Tobago’s final court of appeal, unanimously ruled for activist Jason Jones. It held that two sections of the country’s Sexual Offences Act are unconstitutional to the extent that they criminalize private, consensual sex between adults of the same sex.¹²

The decision reverses a March 2025 ruling by Trinidad and Tobago’s Court of Appeal. That ruling had made same-sex intimacy between men a crime again, with maximum penalties of five years in prison for “buggery” and two years for “gross indecency.”²⁵⁶

Jones was born in Trinidad and Tobago and now lives in Britain. He argued that the law breached his fundamental constitutional rights.¹

A case that went back and forth

Jones began his legal challenge in 2015 and won in the High Court in 2018. The Attorney General appealed, and in March 2025 the Court of Appeal reversed that win in a 2-1 decision.²⁵⁶

The Court of Appeal’s reasoning rested on the Constitution’s savings clause. In that court’s view, this clause shielded sections 13 and 16 of the Sexual Offences Act from constitutional challenge.²

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The final appeal was heard in London on July 8, 2026. All five judges sided with Jones. They allowed his appeal and dismissed a cross-appeal brought by the Attorney General.²⁴

Why the savings clause did not protect the law

The Privy Council focused on what Parliament did in 1986. That year, lawmakers reassessed the law on sexual offences and passed a new and comprehensive Sexual Offences Act. In the court’s reasoning, that meant the provisions were not shielded from challenges based on fundamental rights.³

The Privy Council also agreed with both the High Court and the Court of Appeal that sections 13 and 16 are not reasonably justifiable in a society that properly respects individual rights.³

Anand Ramlogan, a former Attorney General who represented Jones, called the outcome a “landmark victory for gay rights, equal dignity and respect for private and family life in Trinidad and Tobago,” according to the CMC wire report.⁴

What the ruling does and doesn’t do

The court did not erase the whole law. It found sections 13 and 16 unconstitutional only to the extent that they criminalize consensual sexual conduct between adults.² The Attorney General’s office, which opposed Jones’s appeal, had not immediately responded when Reuters asked for comment.¹

“These laws never reflected who we are as a people and a nation: diverse, multiracial, and secular,” Jones said, in comments reported by CNC3.²

Jones welcomed the decision. He also said it did not address wider questions of human rights and equality for LGBTQ+ people, which he said are denied under colonial-era laws across the Commonwealth.¹