Newsroom

April 8, 2019 — Brandon Coward, who attacked Barbadian trans woman Alexa Hoffmann with a meat cleaver on February 18, 2018, was today convicted in the Oistins Magistrates Court by Magistrate Elwood Watts and ordered to compensate Alexa BD$460 (about CAD$306) or face three months in prison. The gruesome attack left Alexa with serious injuries, … Read more

CAVE HILL, November 14, 2018 — One year after the groundbreaking “Intimate Conviction” conference, which examined the role of the church in establishing and maintaining anti-gay laws in Commonwealth countries, an edited volume of some of the conference presentations is now available. The volume will serve as an important tool to assist in the repeal … Read more

November 9, 2018 — “After a nearly two-year delay, the constitutional challenge to Jamaica’s anti-sodomy law looks set to finally restart. The case was effectively suspended while the Jamaican Supreme Court waited for the Court of Appeal to decide whether the Public Defender could join the matter as an interested party. In a heavily criticized … Read more

KINGSTON, Jamaica October 4, 2018 — Laws that criminalize consensual same-sex intimacy exist in a majority of Commonwealth countries, an unwelcome holdover from colonization — despite the fact that such laws have been long since repealed in the United Kingdom. But repealing these laws has proven difficult in some countries as they continue to be … Read more

Kingston, Jamaica October 2, 2018 — One year after the groundbreaking “Intimate Conviction” conference, which examined the role of the church in establishing and maintaining anti-gay laws in Commonwealth countries, an edited volume of some of the conference presentations is now available. Being launched in Kingston, the volume will serve as an important tool to … Read more

Three Barbadians — a trans woman, a lesbian and a gay man — are filing today a petition against Barbados before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) challenging laws criminalising “buggery” and other intimacy between consenting partners, including same-sex partners, as violating numerous rights guaranteed in the American Convention on Human Rights. The IACHR … Read more

Three Barbadians — a trans woman, a lesbian and a gay man — will file a petition against Barbados on June 6 before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) challenging laws criminalizing “buggery” and other intimacy between consenting partners, including same-sex partners, as violating numerous rights guaranteed in the American Convention on Human Rights.

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network applauds yesterday’s landmark decision from the Supreme Court of Belize, which overturned the country’s archaic law prohibiting “carnal intercourse against the order of nature,” setting a precedent for LGBTI human rights that we hope will ripple across the region.

TORONTO, July 8, 2016 — The Jamaican Supreme Court on July 6 handed down its ruling on applications by nine religious groups and the Public Defender to be interested parties in a challenge by Jamaican lawyer Maurice Tomlinson to the country’s anti-sodomy law. All the groups except the Public Defender were allowed in the case with … Read more

February 1, 2016 — Today the Jamaican Court of Appeal will begin hearing a landmark case brought forward by Jamaican attorney and human rights activist, Maurice Tomlinson. The case is challenging national television stations that refused to air a “tolerance ad” promoting respect for the human rights of LGBTI people. The original hearing set for July 22–24, 2015, … Read more