Three members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community, have officially lodged a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Twenty-four-year-old Alexa Hoffman, a transgender woman, and the two other petitioners, a lesbian woman and a gay man who remained anonymous, officially made the stance before a small crowd in the moot courtroom, Faculty of Law, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus moments ago.
They are unanimously contesting Sections 9 and 12 of the Sexual Offences Act, which deals with buggery and serious indecency respectively, to be able to live their lives openly and as they see fit.
Currently, as it stands, the law which is over 200 years old does not make allowances for people within the LGBT community to have consensual relationships between themselves, and further sees some acts between a man and a woman as a crime. If charged under this law, a person can face lifetime imprisonment.Â
The trio, were supported by Jamaican Maurice Tomlinson, senior policy analyst, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, and Canadian Yvonne Chisolm, pro-bono litigation counsel. (RA)
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