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Main Points
The Privy Council’s November 10, 2026 ruling has settled the constitutional question. Sections 13 and 16 of Trinidad and Tobago’s Sexual Offences Act cannot criminalise private, consensual same-sex relations between adults. But what is legally settled may be politically explosive. The judgment makes clear that “it is for the legislature not the judiciary to consolidate or revise the statute book.” While the court must still finalise its remedial order, Parliament can amend the legislation to reflect the ruling. But compliance is not endorsement. Indeed, the judgment quotes an earlier European court decision: “Decriminalisation does not imply approval.” This creates an interesting political dilemma for Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. In 2014, she considered decriminalisation too divisive for government action. Will her UNC administration now simply comply with the court, or publicly embrace its reasoning? And what about the PNM? It was the PNM administration under Keith Rowley that appealed the original 2018 High Court ruling. Will the party maintain its earlier legal position, accept the final judgment, or use any parliamentary debate to articulate a more explicitly conservative position and politically outflank the UNC? Then comes the Washington complication. The UNC has cultivated closer relations with President Donald Trump’s administration, whose conservative social agenda has included restrictions on gender-identity policies. These are distinct legal questions, but they occupy overlapping territory in political debates over sexuality, religion and traditional values. Will the UNC find itself navigating a cultural contradiction between constitutional compliance at home and conservative political alignment in Washington? Ultimately, the ruling requires respect for constitutional rights, not ideological agreement. The Privy Council has settled what the law permits. What remains unsettled is what the UNC and PNM are prepared to defend politically.
The Privy Council’s November 10, 2026 ruling has settled the constitutional question. Sections 13 and 16 of Trinidad and Tobago’s Sexual Offences Act cannot criminalise private, consensual same-sex relations between adults.
But what is legally settled may be politically explosive.
The judgment makes clear that “it is for the legislature not the judiciary to consolidate or revise the statute book.” While the court must still finalise its remedial order, Parliament can amend the legislation to reflect the ruling.
But compliance is not endorsement. Indeed, the judgment quotes an earlier European court decision: “Decriminalisation does not imply approval.”
This creates an interesting political dilemma for Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. In 2014, she considered decriminalisation too divisive for government action. Will her UNC administration now simply comply with the court, or publicly embrace its reasoning?
And what about the PNM?
It was the PNM administration under Keith Rowley that appealed the original 2018 High Court ruling. Will the party maintain its earlier legal position, accept the final judgment, or use any parliamentary debate to articulate a more explicitly conservative position and politically outflank the UNC?
Then comes the Washington complication.
The UNC has cultivated closer relations with President Donald Trump’s administration, whose conservative social agenda has included restrictions on gender-identity policies. These are distinct legal questions, but they occupy overlapping territory in political debates over sexuality, religion and traditional values.
Will the UNC find itself navigating a cultural contradiction between constitutional compliance at home and conservative political alignment in Washington?
Ultimately, the ruling requires respect for constitutional rights, not ideological agreement.
The Privy Council has settled what the law permits. What remains unsettled is what the UNC and PNM are prepared to defend politically.
News Desk is the editorial publishing account for Tringlobe Media News, covering breaking news, public affairs, entertainment, community developments and regional stories across Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean and internationally.
