Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Same-sex sexual activity is prohibited under the Criminal Code 1988, which criminalises acts of ‘buggery’ and ‘gross indecency’. These provisions carry a maximum penalty of ten years’ imprisonment. Both men and women are criminalised under the law.

The law was inherited from the British during the colonial period, in which the English criminal law was imposed upon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It retained the provision upon independence and continues to criminalise same-sex sexual activity today.

There is no evidence of the law being enforced, and it appears to be largely obsolete in practice. Nevertheless, the mere existence of this provision is itself a violation of human rights and underpins further acts of discrimination (see further). There have been some reports of discrimination and violence being committed against LGBT people in recent years, including assault, verbal abuse, harassment, and familial rejection.

2024

On 16 February, a High Court judge dismissed a legal case filed in 2019, challenging sections 146 and 148 of the Criminal Code 1988, which criminalise consensual, same-sex sexual activity. In dismissing the case, the judge held that the claimants did not have standing to bring many aspects of the constitutional challenge because they no longer live in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, or had failed to provide sufficient evidence of historic rights violations. The judge found that the laws had interfered with the Claimants’ right to freedom of expression, but concluded this interference was justified on the grounds of public health and morality. The decision was delivered orally in court and a written judgment containing more detailed legal and factual reasons for the dismissal was issued on 20 February.

2019

On 26 July, a case was filed by two gay men (Javin Johnson and Sean Macleish) challenging the criminalisation of private, consensual same-sex sexual activity under sections 146 and 148 of the Criminal Code 1988. The two claimants are being represented by local lawyers, Zita Barnwell and Jomo Thomas, as well as UK-based legal counsel and a London law firm. 

On 20 November, the High Court determined that 10 churches (known collectively as the ‘Christian Coalition’) would be permitted to join the litigation concerning the constitutionality of Criminal Code provisions criminalising same-sex sexual activity as interested parties, albeit limited to filing two affidavits. The Christian Coalition organised a rally on 14 November in opposition, among other things, to the legal challenge to the ‘buggery’ and ‘gross indecency’ laws. Attorney Mandella Peters addressed the rally, calling the legal challenge “a challenge against God himself because in the essence of this challenge, we are called upon to call a wrong right and to call what is wrong permissible and allowable in the guise of human rights… the essence of it, I believe it is a challenge against morality.”

2014

In June, the country noted it could not join the consensus on the approval of an OAS resolution on sexual orientation, finding that: “Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is of the view that the term ‘gender expression’ is one that is not thoroughly defined internationally or that has international acceptance.”

2020

The US Department of State report for 2020, like preceding reports, noted that the law was rarely enforced.

2023

In July, a report from Human Rights Watch found that LGBT people in St Vincent and the Grenadines still face bias-motivated violence and discrimination in their daily life. The report exposes physical and verbal assaults, family violence, homelessness, workplace harassment, bullying, and sexual violence that LGBT individuals face under the shadow of discriminatory laws. The report illustrates that criminalisation of gay sex gives tacit state sanction to the discrimination and violence that LGBT people experience in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

2020

The US Department of State report noted that since the filing of the challenge to the criminalisation of same-sex sexual activity (see above), local civil society organisations reported an increase in physical and verbal attacks on LGBT people. This included at least four unprovoked attacks, including a stabbing, following an anti-LGBT protest.

2018

The US Department of State reported that anecdotal evidence suggested there was societal discrimination against LGBT people, but that local observers believed such attitudes of intolerance were slowly improving. Nevertheless, it reported two acts of violence against LGBT people on the basis of their identity. The first involved two “men dressed in female clothing” being chased and beaten by a crowd, none of whom were arrested. The second involved a murder during a same-sex encounter, to which the suspect admitted.

2016 

The Human Rights Watch report, I Have to Leave to Be Me, documented cases of discrimination and violence against LGBT people in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. This included physical attacks, verbal abuse and harassment, familial rejection, and discrimination in employment.

2013

The report of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada contains statements made by the Chairman of the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines chapter of Caribbean HIV/AIDS Partnership, who spoke on the issue of violence in the country, stating that incidents of violence since 2010 are relatively low, mainly result in minor injuries, and tend to be related to personal disputes rather than random violence.