The Sexual Offences Act, 1995 is an Act of the Parliament of Antigua and Barbuda. It replaced all previous law on sexual offences, codifying a wide range of offences including rape, "marital sexual assault" (''i.e.'' marital rape), sexual intercourse with minors and mentally subnormal people, incest, buggery, bestiality, indecent assault, "serious indecency", procuration, procuring defilement of a person, detention or abduction of a person for sexual purposes, brothel-keeping, and living on the earnings of prostitution. , it remains in force, with the exception of sections 12 and 15, which have been struck down by the High Court.

Criminalization of homosexual acts

Section 12 of the Act specified that buggery, defined as "sexual intercourse ''per anum'' by a male person with a male person or by a male person with a female person" was illegal. Section 15 also specified that "serious indecency", defined as "an act, other than sexual intercourse (whether natural or unnatural) by a person involving the use of the genital organ for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire" was illegal, with the exception of such acts being carried out by persons of opposite sexes. Both offences carried substantial prison sentences, even when carried out between consenting adults. Effectively, this made all homosexual sex acts illegal in

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two maj ...

. Both of these sections were struck down by the High Court of Antigua and Barbuda in 2022, on the basis that they were unconstitutional under the rights granted by the

Constitution of Antigua and Barbuda The politics of Antigua and Barbuda takes place in a framework of a unitary parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, wherein the Sovereign of Antigua and Barbuda is the head of state, appointing a Governor-General to act as vice-regal r ...

. The court case against the legislation was supported by

Women Against Rape Women Against Rape (WAR) is a UK organisation founded in 1976. In their original Statement of Aims, they demanded: recognition of rape of every kind; not just by strangers but by husbands, fathers and stepfathers. They demanded that every woman ...

and the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality.

References

Statutory law LGBT rights in the Caribbean 1995 in Antigua and Barbuda law Human rights in Antigua and Barbuda {{Law-stub

Criminalization of homosexual acts

See also

References