Gay man plans to challenge Dominica sodomy law

It is alledged that a gay man in Dominica, who lives in Trinidad, and is an architect plans to challenge his country’s sodomy law.

Attempts to contact the man from Pointe Michel has proved to be futile. 

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, a Toronto-based advocacy group, on Monday announced the man will file the lawsuit in Dominica’s High Court of Justice in the coming weeks.

Dominica is a former British colony that is located between Guadeloupe and Martinique in the Lesser Antilles. 

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network notes the gay man plans to challenge two provisions of Dominica’s Sexual Offenses Act that criminalizes anal sex and “gross indecency” with up to 10 years and 12 years in prison respectively.

“The claimant at the center of this case is a gay man who could face more than a decade in prison for private sexual intercourse with consenting adult same-sex partners,” reads the group’s press release. “Already, he has experienced homophobic hostility, discrimination, harassment and physical and sexual assaults fueled by these hateful laws.”

The press release specifically notes police “refused to investigate” an attack against the gay man that took place in his home and “allowed his attacker to remain free.”

Goal is ‘to end the criminalization of consensual sexual activity’

Dominica is among the Caribbean countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized.

The Trinidad and Tobago High Court in 2018 found the country’s sodomy law unconstitutional.