Belize court upholds finding that LGBT people are protected by non-discrimination laws

 | 
12/30/2019

The Court of Appeal has today delivered a judgment denying the Belize Government’s appeal of a 2016 ruling decriminalising adult consensual same-sex relations. The three-judge bench reaffirmed the decision of the Chief Justice in 2016 that Section 53 of the Belize Criminal Code – which criminalised ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’ and disproportionately discriminated against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Belize – contravened the constitutional rights to dignity, equality before the law, privacy, freedom of expression and non-discrimination on the grounds of sex, and was therefore void. Importantly, Justice Samuel Lungole-Awich stated unequivocally in today’s judgment that the Constitutional prohibition on sex discrimination includes sexual orientation discrimination.

Share this:

Latest Global News

Added on: 04/20/2024
04/19/2024
The rights of LGBTQ+ students will be protected by federal law and victims of campus sexual assault will gain new safeguards under rules finalized …
Added on: 04/19/2024
04/18/2024
Burundi’s president said gay people should be stoned, amid a larger crackdown on the LGBTQ community in the East African country. “If you want to …
Added on: 04/19/2024
04/18/2024
ACCRA (Reuters) – Members of Ghana’s LGBT community and activists are waiting to see whether the West African country’s president will sign into law …

Explore LGBTQ+ Issues

Added on: 04/02/2024
Proudly wearing a rainbow-colored clergy stole and a rainbow flag in her clerical collar, the Rev. Elaine Saralegui welcomed all to her LGBTQ+ inclusive …
Added on: 03/31/2024
Proudly wearing a rainbow-colored clergy stole and a rainbow flag in her clerical collar, the Rev. Elaine Saralegui welcomed all to her LGBTQ+ inclusive …
Added on: 03/14/2024
The situation in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is worsening by the hour, a crisis that has been met with a staggering indifference on the part of …