Feature image created using Canva Pro elements. Have LGBTQ+ rights advanced in the Caribbean this year? Has the situation changed significantly since 2016, when Belizean gay rights activist Caleb Orozco won his legal challenge to a section of his country's Criminal Code? Well, yes and no. In a landmark judgement on December 12, 2022, the Supreme Court of Barbados issued an oral ruling that struck down colonial-era laws criminalising consensual same-sex relations. The Court deemed Sections 9 and 12 of the Sexual Offences Act, which criminalise buggery and serious indecency, null and void on the basis of unconstitutionality. The case was filed against the Barbadian government by two local LGBTQ+ advocates, supported by regional non-governmental organisations (NGOs). It is not clear at this time whether the government will appeal. In one report, the country's attorney general, Dale Marshall, appeared to have some concerns, but observed that he will make a decision once the written judgement is handed down in January. The Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality (ECADE) reported: Barbados the Republic repeals buggery and gross indecency laws, confirming its commitment to upholding human rights for all… (1 of 2) .#LGBTlitigationBarbados#barbadosbuggeryjudgment#barbadosgrossindecencyjudgment#Barbadosjudgment #CaribbeanLGBTQ pic.twitter.com/4FHBhz21y9 — ECADE (@EC_Equality) December 12, 2022 One of the claimants recognised the years of persistent campaigning that had led to this: Repeal of the buggery law is a huge win for Barbados, says claimant René Holder-Mclean Ramirez, former Chair of ECADE and Director of Equals. . .#LGBTlitigationBarbados #Barbadosjudgement #barbados #lgbthumanrights #lgbtqhumanrights #lgbtlitigation #caribbeanlgbtq pic.twitter.com/RR9Xd8mJxy — ECADE (@EC_Equality) December 15, 2022 A representative of the NGO Equals Barbados, which helps the LGBTQ+ community access services, welcomed the ruling: This is a step in the right direction for the protection of LGBTQ+ people in Barbados as we continue to ensure stigma-free access to services and positive inclusion in society. This is not the first such ruling in the Caribbean. In fact, it is the third for 2022. In Antigua and Barbuda, the High Court of Justice struck down legal provisions that criminalised same-sex relations in a landmark ruling on July 5, which declared two Sections of the Sexual Offences Act of 1995 unconstitutional. In St. Kitts and Nevis, the High Court ruled on August 29, that laws criminalising gay sex are unconstitutional, upholding the plaintiffs’ claim that Sections 56 and 57 of the Offences Against the Person Act violated the right to privacy and freedom of expression. However, in two Caribbean countries that are British protected territories, there has been some confusion — and even legal reversals — over LGBTQ+ rights this year. In Bermuda, on March 14, the UK-based Privy Council determined that Section 53 of the Domestic Partnership Act (DPA), which confined the concept of marriage to a union between a man and a woman, was not unconstitutional. An appeals court had upheld the right of same-sex couples to marry, handing down its ruling in November 2018. The Bermudan government challenged the ruling and the law (in the form of the Domestic Partnership Act). Couples who had married before the March decision were assured that their marriages would remain valid. Nevertheless, consensual sexual conduct in private was legalised in Bermuda in 1994. A provision in the Criminal Code regarding gross indecency between men was repealed in 2019. In the Cayman Islands, the UK Privy Council handed down a similar ruling on marriage equality, although consensual sex is also legal there. Billie Bryan, founder and president of Colours Cayman, a nonprofit advocacy group for the LGBTQ+ community, told the Associated Press: The Privy Council has done nothing more, by its decision, than reassert the oppressive political environment of yesteryear. From his Jamaican perspective, Dane Lewis, director of the regional NGO Caribbean Forum for Liberation & Acceptance of Genders & Sexualities (CARIFLAGS), told Global Voices: We have seen a general shift in attitudes for the better but sadly, in the spaces and sectors of society where things have always been bad, they continue to be bad. […] In the past few years, we have had a number of cases of murder. Homophobia and transphobia [have] persons still being made homeless, despite an increase in tolerance in the wider society. This is a huge challenge, as the state does not have resources to offer shelter to everyone.