# Trinidad and Tobago's anti-gay laws overturned

> London's highest court rules that laws criminalising same-sex intimacy violate the right to private life, ending an 11-year legal battle.
- Title: Trinidad and Tobago's anti-gay laws overturned · BBC News
- Summary: London's highest court rules that laws criminalising same-sex intimacy violate the right to private life, ending an 11-year legal battle.
- Keywords: trinidad and tobago, jason jones, judicial committee of the privy council, same-sex intimacy, lgbtq+ rights, commonwealth, decriminalisation, BBC News
- Source: BBC News — https://bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm0e0evlpp87o
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: trinidad and tobago, jason jones, judicial committee of the privy council, same-sex intimacy, lgbtq+ rights, commonwealth, decriminalisation, news, world
## Privy Council overturns anti-gay laws
London's Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled that Trinidad and Tobago's laws criminalising same-sex intimacy violate the fundamental right to respect for private and family life.
## An 11-year legal battle by Jason Jones
Dual-citizen Jason Jones, 62, brought the case after Trinidad's High Court ruled in his favour in 2018, only for the Trinidadian government to overturn the decision on appeal.
## First Privy Council ruling on decriminalisation
This is the first time the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has decided a case to decriminalise same-sex intimacy.
## Jones: the message ends today
Jason Jones said the laws never reflected who Trinidad and Tobago is as a people and nation. They told LGBTQ+ people they were criminals in their own country, but that message ends today.

> They told LGBTQ+ people that we were criminals in our own country. That message ends today.
## Key takeaway

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council overturned Trinidad and Tobago's laws criminalising same-sex intimacy after an 11-year legal battle by Jason Jones.