In a Growing Caribbean Trend, Saint Lucia’s Anti-Gay Sex Law Has Been Overturned

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The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) has struck down a Saint Lucia law that criminalized gay sex, a ruling hailed by activists as a major step forward for LGBTQ+ rights in the region.

On July 29, a High Court judge declared that sections 132 and 133 of St. Lucia’s Criminal Code, which criminalized “gross indecency” and “buggery,” were not consistent with the country’s Bill of Rights, per a press release from the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE). Those sections — based on similar colonial-era prohibitions and retained during modernization efforts 20 years ago — banned anal intercourse between men completely, as well as any act “other than sexual intercourse […] involving the use of the genital organs for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire,” except if it was performed between a man and a woman in private.

Although advocates said that the laws were rarely enforced by police, their presence alone still “fueled stigma, discrimination and violence” in St. Lucia, ECADE representatives wrote in Tuesday’s press release. A “buggery” conviction carried a potential prison sentence of five years, and up to 10 years for gross indecency.

“Today’s ruling is not just a win in the courts, it also represents a step towards justice for the many lives lost to violence simply for being themselves,” ECADE Executive Director Kenita Placide wrote. “It signals that our Caribbean can and must be a place where all people are free and equal under the law.”

Several other Eastern Caribbean nations have decriminalized consensual gay sex in recent years, repealing similar colonial laws that were on the books in some form since the 1800s. In 2022, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, and Saint Kitts and Nevis abolished their bans following lawsuits filed by ECADE, and Dominica followed suit in 2024. Two countries in the ECSC’s jurisdiction still criminalize gay sex: Grenada and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the latter of which rejected a legal challenge to the ban last year.

“This historic ruling ends a harmful century-old colonial legacy and marks a significant step toward the respect and full recognition of LGBTQ people in St. Lucia. It is a testament to the courage of advocates across St. Lucia and the Caribbean and will improve lives now and for generations to come,” said Maria Sjödin, Executive Director of the LGBTQ+ rights group OutRight International, in a joint statement with ECADE on Tuesday. “At a time of rising global hostility, this decision makes clear that discriminatory laws have no place in any society and that human rights must prevail.”

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