TINY Belize is having a moment of global fame. Simone Biles, the United States’ spring-loaded gold-medal gymnast, is also a citizen of the Caribbean state. Human-rights advocates, meanwhile, are more excited about the decision by its high court to decriminalise homosexuality. Section 53 of the criminal code, which threatens people who engage in “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” with up to ten years in prison, is unconstitutional, ruled the chief justice, Kenneth Benjamin, on August 10th. The decision may set a precedent for a conservative region.
It was a long time coming. Caleb Orozco, a leader of the United Belize Advocacy Movement, a gay-rights group, waited three years for a hearing after challenging the law in 2010. His campaign provoked attacks and insults. Churches fought it, both in the courtroom as “interested parties” and through the media. Lance Lewis, president of Belize’s National Evangelical Association, called the court’s ruling “an abomination”.
But it has given hope to campaigners in the ten other English-speaking Caribbean countries that still have Victorian-era anti-sodomy laws on their...Continue reading
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