Activists urge Jamaica to nix anti-sodomy laws amid violence

DÁNICA COTO
Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Activists are demanding that Jamaica repeal a colonial-era law criminalizing gay sex. They are noting that the government still has not heeded a regional rights panel’s recommendation two years ago to do so. The call comes as a growing number of islands in the conservative Caribbean region strike down similar but rarely invoked laws. It’s a move long resisted by Jamaica, which is considered the most hostile Caribbean island toward gay people. Nonprofit organizations on Tuesday released a report that found the LGBTQ community in Jamaica faces “horrific violence, discrimination and persecution and lack(s) the most basic protections under the law.”