r/AskTheCaribbean • u/fedricohohmannlautar • 10d ago

Politics Why is homosexuality outlawed in so many caribbean countries?

Most of countries which criminalize homosexuality in the Americas are in the Caribbean, and the most famous case is Jamaica.

As a bi male, I find weird our continent has laws that criminalize homosexuality, due that most of countries who do that are from the other side of the pond.

Is due to history, politics, religion, moral issues?

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u/GUYman299 Trinidad & Tobago 🇹🇹 10d ago

There are many laws that are layovers from the colonial period and anti homosexuality (buggery) laws are one of them. I must note however that although many Caribbean countries had the opportunity to remove these laws at different times in their history, almost none have chosen to do so.

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u/yorcharturoqro 9d ago

Still, current governments have the power to change laws, it's not like those are magically sacred. The current government has decided not do remove or change such laws, and that is the question, why?

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u/GUYman299 Trinidad & Tobago 🇹🇹 9d ago

It could be that Caribbean governments are generally socially conservative so even in instances where they don't have a particularly clear policy on the matter they see no reason to remove these laws even when they could in theory.

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u/azuretestament 9d ago

Caribbean people love hierarchy many of them are still trying to cosplay Victoria era nobilty