SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A nearly 10-year battle for gay rights in Trinidad and Tobago could end Wednesday at a final appeals court in England.
Supreme Court judges in London will hold a hearing on a landmark human rights case that could decriminalize gay sex in the eastern Caribbean nation, potentially setting a precedent for the largely conservative Caribbean region.
The case was filed in February 2017 by Jason Jones, who argues that so-called “buggery” laws in the twin-island nation that date from the colonial era and prohibit gay sex are unconstitutional. Those found guilty could receive up to five years in prison.
Opposing Jones are Trinidad and Tobago’s government, backed by the country’s Council of Evangelical Churches and its largest Hindu organization, Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha.
The case has wound its way through several courts. In April 2018, Trinidad’s High Court found the laws unconstitutional, but a local appeals court partially reversed that ruling in March 2025. In July of that year, Trinidad's Court of Appeals allowed Jones to seek a ruling from the final court of appeals in England.
Now, the case is before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and activists across the Caribbean are closely watching the outcome.
In 1991, the Bahamas decriminalized homosexuality, while the U.K government repealed such laws in 2001 in Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Recently, judges have struck down similar laws in Barbados, Dominica, St. Lucia and Antigua and Barbuda. Gay sex, however, remains a crime in Grenada, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Jones, who is currently 61 and has been openly gay since age 16, left Trinidad and Tobago in 1996 because of what he described as homophobic violence and discrimination.
“His experience is part of a wider picture,” LGBTQ groups supporting Jones said in a recent court filing. “(He) is unable to fully express his sexuality without being branded a criminal.”
Jones argues that criminalizing gay sex is a moral stance, asserting that “Trinidad and Tobago is a secular society and a multi-racial one. Christian morality is neither universal nor superior.”
While the country’s so-called buggery laws have not been enforced in recent history, attorneys and activists say they still send a message.
“A law of this kind operates not only through arrest and conviction, but through the stigma, fear, concealment and exclusion,” according to a recently filed written argument in favor of Jones.
It asserted that criminalizing gay sex “compounds stigma at precisely the stage at which young people may be forming identity, seeking support, accessing education and healthcare, and deciding whether it is safe to disclose abuse, bullying or self-harm risks.”
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is composed of five judges. They could issue a ruling as soon as Wednesday's hearing ends, although they don't have a deadline to do so.
FILE - A man enters the Supreme Court in London, on Oct. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
Speaking at the NATO summit in Turkey a day after U.S. President Donald Trump again expressed a desire for the U.S. to control Greenland, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said, “Greenland is of course not for sale.”
“We hope that all, including all allies, will respect the Greenland people right for self-determination,” she said. “And we are sovereign states and we need everybody to respect our territorial integrity and our sovereignty.”
NATO leaders are trying to show increased military capabilities as the U.S. focus shifts from defending Europe. The alliance is holding a two-day summit in Ankara, Turkey, that will showcase military projects worth billions of dollars aimed at persuading Trump they are making a stronger Europe for a stronger NATO.
Iceland’s Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir said Wednesday that Greenland’s people “do not wish to be a part of the United States” and that NATO allies should focus on the threat from Russia.
As the summit meetings began Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said overnight U.S. strikes on Iran were necessary because Iran had violated the ceasefire.
Trump met with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday ahead of the summit and announced the U.S. will lift sanctions, opening the possibility of selling F-35 jets to Turkey over Israel's objections.
Trump also criticized NATO’s abilities to function without U.S. leadership and power, expressing disappointment at the refusal of some NATO allies to join the Iran war he launched alongside Israel without consulting them.
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he expects the summit to produce “a new spirit in NATO that makes NATO stronger, that makes NATO more united.”
He vowed allies will keep helping Ukraine and pointed to a European initiative to provide a further 70 billion euros ($80 billion) this year and again next year.
Merz said “it is now exclusively up to Russia to end this war and we will do everything again today to achieve that; and also send a clear message to Moscow. Russia has no chance of winning this war.”
Finnish President Alexander Stubb reaffirmed that matters concerning Greenland are “only in the hands of the Kingdom of Denmark.”
He said it is important that the NATO alliance stays intact.
Stubb is known as a Trump whisperer in Europe.
U.S. Sen Jeanne Shaheen said she is hopeful the summit will include a recommitment to Ukraine.
“The momentum is on the side of Ukraine at this point and we need to do everything possible to ramp up pressure on Russia to come to the table,” the Democrat from New Hampshire said.
Shaheen is co-chair of the Senate NATO Observer Group.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said his country was in solidarity with the United States in order to guarantee the free navigation of the Strait of Hormuz.
Nausėda said the Baltic country was ready to contribute by sending its demining mission if required.
“We have to stay united if we expect a solidarity from the side of the United States,” he said.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, when asked about Trump’s designs on Greenland, said he “rejects that kind of rhetoric, that kind of claim.”
“Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark,” he told reporters. “It is up to the people of Greenland and Denmark to decide how that development should proceed.”
Iceland’s Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir said in remarks Wednesday in Ankara that Greenland’s people “do not wish to be a part of the United States” and that NATO allies should focus on the threat from Russia.
“Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland,” she said.
“What we need now is unity. We have threats coming from outside the alliance,” Frostadottir said. “I mean, Russia is the biggest threat when it comes to these NATO allies. We need to focus on us and how we stick together.”
Speaking at the NATO summit a day after U.S. President Donald Trump again expressed a desire for the U.S. to control Greenland, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said, “Greenland is of course not for sale.”
“We hope that all, including all allies, will respect the Greenland people right for self-determination,” she said. “And we are sovereign states and we need everybody to respect our territorial integrity and our sovereignty.”
She said Denmark is “ready to defend every inch of NATO including our own territory” in the event of an attack and would rely on NATO allies to honor their commitment to defend each other.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Wednesday at the alliance’s summit in Ankara that the overnight U.S. strikes on Iran were necessary.
Iran had violated the ceasefire, Rutte said.
“I think it is totally crucial that the U.S. forcefully reacts,” Rutte said.
He expects NATO members to “reconfirm that Iran should never, ever get its hands on a nuclear capability” and also to reaffirm the importance of freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, right, speaks with the media as Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda, left, arrives for the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis speaks as he arrives for the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson speaks as he arrives for the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, left, and Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda speak with the media as they arrive for the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Iceland's Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir speaks as she arrives for the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy looks out from his car window as he arrives for the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (Metin Aktaş, Pool Photo via AP)
Members of the Historical Honor Guard stand before the welcoming ceremony for President Donald Trump at the Bestepe Presidential Palace during the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, July 7, 2026.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Front row from left, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew G. Whitaker attend the formal welcome for President Donald Trump at the NATO summit at the Bestepe Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
US President Donald Trump and American officials meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish officials at the Bestepe Presidential Compound in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, July, 7, 2026. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
President Donald Trump, right, speaks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as he arrives for the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (Doğukan Keskinkılıç, Pool Photo via AP)
