Jamaica:
The Battle against a Colonial-Era Homophobic Law

In August 2011, AIDS-Free World filed a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on behalf of two Jamaicans—a gay man and transgender woman—who had suffered extreme abuses because of a colonial-era anti-sodomy law. The law, and the homophobia that it engenders, exacerbates the HIV epidemic in the region. Due to security threats, both petitioners were forced to flee Jamaica and seek asylum abroad.
The petition alleged that Jamaica breached various provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights, including the right to health.
“The law creates a hostile and homophobic environment in public health centers, making these spaces and the health services inaccessible to LGBTI people,” said Sarah Bosha, Legal Research Policy Adviser on HIV and Human Rights for AIDS-Free World, during testimony before the IACHR sitting in Quito, Ecuador, in November 2019.

After a nine-year wait, the IACHR issued its ruling.  The IACHR found that sections 76, 77, and 79 of the Offences Against the Person Act of 1864 hindered access to the right to health for sexual minorities in Jamaica.
In its final report on the merits, the IACHR said that the existence of the Offences Against the Person Act “has contributed to the discrimination suffered by the alleged victims when accessing health services, derived from their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.”

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