A gay man is challenging Dominica’s laws criminalizing buggery and same-sex activities among members of the LGBT community. The unnamed man filed the lawsuit in Dominica’s High Court of Justice and is represented by Attorney Cara Shillingford. The man’s lawsuit has the backing of several LGBT groups within and beyond Dominica, and funded by international advocacy organizations.
Maurice Tomlinson, senior policy analyst and legal advisor with the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, announced the lawsuit during a media conference in Rosea on behalf of the litigant.
According to the lawsuit, the man is contending that Sections 14 and 16 of the Sexual Offenses Act of Dominica contradict several human rights supposedly guaranteed in the constitution of the country.
The Outcome of Legal Challenge Might Affect Everyone with an LGBT Acquaintance
Daryl Phillip, founder and coordinator of Minority Rights Dominica (MiRiDom), said filing the lawsuit at the high court is a milestone achievement for the group. He said MiRiDom had been working to bring LGBTs rights case to court for the past 5 years with little success. But the filing of the current challenge makes the litigation important for all members of the LGBT community.
Phillip pointed out that Sections 14 and 16 of the Sexual Offenses Act deal with buggery and gross indecency, and that these are the laws the lawsuit is targeting. Section 14 says it is criminal for anyone to “use the genital organs, breast or anus for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire” and stipulates a prison term of 12 years. Section 16 criminalizes buggery which is anal intercourse between a man and another man or between a man and a woman; this offense carries a 10 prison term with a likelihood for psychiatric confinement.
Phillip revealed that the lawsuit was instituted after due consultations with legal professionals and advocacy groups across the world, including the United Nations. He added that they were emboldened to bring the case to the court because it potentially affects everyone with a friend or relative whose sexual orientation is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. “So we are trying to do right to have a more equal society,” he clarified.
I Want To Live In a Dominica Where the LGBT Community Feels Protected and Secure
The Dominican litigant who instituted the case said via written statement presented on his behalf to the press that he fears for his life and those of members of the LGBT community. He revealed that he is a constant victim of discrimination, threats, harassment, and violence because of his sexual preference. He also added that the law in a way protects his harassers, saying even the police cannot prosecute them effectively in the face of laws criminalizing unusual sexual orientations.
“These laws are not only discriminatory themselves, but they incite and encourage hateful and violent conduct towards LGBT individuals,” he said. “The laws also condone police discrimination and inaction against such acts of harassment and violence. These laws not only directly violate various constitutional rights but also incite many other violations I and other LGBT Dominicans experience.”
He said Sections 14 and 16 of the Sexual Offenses Act and other related laws must be changed to guarantee the rights of everyone in Dominica regardless of their sexual preferences.
“I want to live in a Dominica where I and other members of the LGBT community feel protected and secure, free to live our lives without discrimination, harassment, threat, and violence,” the claimant said.
The lawsuit is supported and funded by organizations such as the –
- Minority Rights Dominica (MiRiDom)
- Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
- University of Toronto’s International Human Rights Program
- Lawyers Without Borders
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