London court hears bid to overturn Trinidad and Tobago's criminal ban on same-sex intimacy

The UK's Judicial Committee of the Privy Council began hearing Jason Jones's appeal on July 8, 2026, challenging Trinidad and Tobago's buggery law, which carries five-year prison sentences for consensual same-sex acts. Jones won at trial in 2018, but the government successfully appealed in 2025. The court's reasoning on whether a 1986 law merely preserved or substantively rewrote colonial-era statutes will reshape savings-clause protections across the Caribbean. A ruling is expected within six months.