KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC) — The High Court will rule on Wednesday, November 20 on whether to allow 10 churches to become a party in a challenge to the anti-buggery laws in St Vincent and the Grenadines even as lawyers for both sides expressed differing opinions on the decision by two gay nationals challenging the law.

During a pre-trial hearing, Justice Esco Henry dismissed an application by lawyers for the claimants, asking that the court adjourn the hearing of the churches' application. Attorneys Jomo Thomas and Shirlan “Zita” Barnwell appeared for the claimants Sean MacLeish and Javin Johnson, who say the anti-buggery and gross indecency laws contravene their constitutional rights.

Under the Criminal Code, any person who commits buggery with any other person, commits buggery with an animal, or permits any person to commit buggery with him or her is guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment for 10 years. The Criminal Code also states that any person who, whether in public or private, commits any act of gross indecency with another person of the same sex, or procures or attempts to procure another person of the same sex to commit an act of gross indecency with him or her, is guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment for five years.

Thomas, who is representing one of the men challenging the laws, told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) his client will win once the case is decided on the law. He said that the churches, under the umbrella body of the Christian Coalition, might be setting themselves up for a public relations problem, by saying they hope to bring out 20,000 persons to a march in Kingstown on Thursday.

He said the two gay men are saying, “and we agree, as counsel, that Sections 146 and 148 of the Criminal Code in St Vincent is aware of their constitutional rights to expression, to dignity, to a number of constitutional provisions we believe are violated”.

Thomas, however, said the case is not about morality. “This is not about morality and the claims that homosexuals cause the proliferation of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases cannot be supported by science… The case should be decided on the law, it should not be decided on morality,” he told CMC. Thomas said a number of important cases on the same or similar issues, including in Belize, Trinidad and Guyana were decided on the law. Read more via Jamaican Observer