Trinidad and Tobago

In March 2025, the Trinidad and Tobago Court of Appeal reinstated the criminalization of consensual same-sex conduct. The judgment, which reverses the 2018 decriminalization ruling in the lower court, reinstates pre-independence sodomy laws in the country. Section 13 of the Sexual Offences Act (SOA) was reinstated with a lesser penalty of five years, and Section 16 on “gross indecency” between men was replaced by Section 61 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1925, which carries a two-year sentence rather than five years. Notably, the Court of Appeal found that these laws “are not reasonably justifiable in a society that has proper respect for the rights and freedoms of the individual,” but decided that it could not change the law because of the country’s rigid savings law clause, a constitutional provision that shields colonial-era laws from being overturned by the courts. The state has repeatedly exploited this clause to evade human rights obligations, prioritizing political expediency over justice. Activists, attorneys, and the National Constitutional Reform Commission have all called for the urgent removal of the savings law.

The Attorney General deemed the appeal necessary at the time because of the buggery law’s impact on 27 additional laws on the books that in some way permit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, including the Immigration Act which bans homosexuals from entering the country. Although these laws are not enforced, they contribute to the general antipathy toward LGBTIQ people in Trinidad and Tobago. To date, a complete list of these 27 laws has not been released.

There are no laws explicitly protecting LGBTIQ people from discrimination or hate crimes. Notably, Trinidad and Tobago’s anti-discrimination law, the Equal Opportunity Act, explicitly excludes “sexual preference or orientation” as a protected status. Additionally, the Children’s Act excludes consensual same-sex activity between peers from the “Romeo Clause” defense, instead opting to criminalize same-sex experimentation between young people of the same sex. 

Transgender people are particularly vulnerable because there is no mechanism for legal gender recognition in the country. Only legal name changes are permitted. Intersex people face discrimination and systemic exclusion. Non-consensual medical interventions on intersex children are not prohibited, leaving them vulnerable to violence. Recommendations to improve the lives of intersex people in the country include public education, policies that allow intersex individuals to change their documents, and advocacy with health care providers.

Social perceptions of LGBTIQ people are evolving. A 2017 survey revealed that 61 percent of people from Trinidad and Tobago accepted or tolerated homosexual relationships.

*Outright research indicates that the bodily autonomy of intersex people is not respected and protected in this country.