Privy Council strikes down Trinidad's colonial-era gay sex provisions

What happened?

1. On November 10, 2026, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled sections 13 and 16 of Trinidad and Tobago's Sexual Offences Act cannot criminalize private, consensual same-sex relations between adults
2. The judgment reversed a 2025 Court of Appeal decision and restored the constitutional protection first recognized when a claimant won an original High Court challenge in 2018.
3. Ruling that they violated constitutional rights, most notably the right to have one's private and family life respected, the Privy Council invalidated Trinidad and Tobago's colonial-era laws making consensual same-sex conduct a crime.
4. The provisions at issue, historically described as "buggery" and "serious indecency", were contained in the 1986 Sexual Offences Act and reflect British colonial legal traditions
5. The Privy Council also ruled that constitutional savings clauses for pre-independence laws cannot be interpreted so broadly as to render entire areas of legislation immune from constitutional scrutiny
6. The Privy Council serves as Trinidad and Tobago's final court of appeal, sitting in London

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled on November 10, 2026 that sections 13 and 16 of Trinidad and Tobago's 1986 Sexual Offences Act cannot be applied to private, consensual same-sex relations between adults. The judgment reversed a 2025 Court of Appeal decision and restored the constitutional protection a person first won at the High Court in 2018. The court also held that constitutional savings clauses for pre-independence laws cannot render entire areas of legislation immune from constitutional scrutiny.

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