A few days after Attorney General Steadroy “Cutie” Benjamin dared lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and other similar groups to “take [the government] to court” in relation to the legalisation of same sex marriages and same sex relations, the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE), announced that it will be launching “five legal challenges to the remnants of draconian laws of our colonial past”.
The group’s intention is to challenge the constitutionality of buggery and indecency laws in Barbados, St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada and Saint Lucia.
Executive Director of ECADE, Kenita Placide said, “this is four years in the making. While the process of litigation is important, the main part of this journey was to strengthen the organisations and the communities within the countries they serve. We also needed to understand how these laws contribute to the stigmatisation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) people, how they legitimise hate speech, discrimination and violence and tear at the heart of the family, that our society including our governments have sworn to protect.”
According to the detailed press release, which was circulated across the region over the weekend, the decision to challenge the laws is as a result of a process which commenced with a meeting organised by United and Strong of Saint Lucia and GrenCHAP of Grenada in 2015.
Read more in today’s newspaper