The punishment for gay sex in Jamaica is up to 10 years in prison for hard labour, with a maximum of seven years for “attempt” and two years for “outrages on decency”. While the British finally repealed the law in 1967, Jamaica, which had gained independence five years before, never amended the act. This criminalised sex between men, any attempt by a man to have sex with another man, and “gross indecency”, whose definition is vague but could include men kissing or even holding hands. It wasn’t until the Victorian era, in 1864, that the Offences Against the Person Act was introduced. Relationships between men were said to have been widespread, a consequence, perhaps, of the male dominated culture: plantation owners, colonists, slaves. In the earliest days of colonialism on the island, conservative British laws remained unenforced. ![]() History of LGBT rightsIt is difficult to talk about the history of LGBT rights in Jamaica it seems far more appropriate to describe it as a history of wrongs.
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