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The LGBTQ+ Reach: April 25 – May 1, 2024

Brian Reach

Dominica Overturns Gay Ban

On Monday Kimberly Cenac-Phulgence, high court judge on the Commonwealth of Dominica’s Eastern Carribean Supreme Court, issued a ruling in favor of a gay man (the claimant), who has been challenging the country’s anti-gay “Sexual Offences Act” for years.

References For Decades

Counsel for the claimant relied upon findings from cases in other countries, which were accepted by the court.

The claimant referenced a 2022 Botswana case, Motshidiemang v. Attorney General, which established that sexual orientation is innate, and that people are entitled to sexual autonomy including choice of a partner and autonomy over intimate personal decisions.

In fact, between the counsel for both sides, and Judge Cenac-Phulgence in her analysis, many cases were referenced from several countries, as were findings from world organizations. In all, cases were referenced from Zimbabwe, Antigua and Barbuda, India, Belize, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Christopher and Nevis, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Turkey, Jamaica, Kenya, Australia, Canada, and Nigeria.

Findings by the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee were also referenced.

More, one U.K. case that was referenced… was the portion referencing additional cases in France, Armenia, Ireland and Italy.

The claimants also referenced cases from the U.S., including Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned sodomy laws in the U.S.

The claimants also referenced Bolling v. Sharpe, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that found that the Constitution prohibits segregated public schools in D.C. (lesser known, perhaps, as the ruling was announced the same day as Brown v. Board of Education on May 17, 1954, though its proceedings began nearly two years earlier).

Bolling v. Sharpe is important still, because it found that segregation violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, whereas Brown v. Board found segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment — which only applied to states. This established “reverse incorporation,” requiring the federal government to provide equality before the law.

The claimants also quoted Justice Neil Gorsuch while referencing U.S. Supreme Court case Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, which found that employee discrimination based on sexual orientation constitutes sex-based discrimination. “It is impossible to discriminate against a person for being homosexual or transgender without discriminating against that individual based on sex,” Gorsuch wrote in that decision.

It Cannot Be… Reasonably Justified

The opposing counsel (the defendants) first argued that the laws, which were established while Dominica was under colonial rule, were no longer being used against homosexuals. Ultimately, they argued that sexual freedom is not a constitutional right.

The court found that the Dominican Constitution provides the right to liberty, saying that it allows “all persons, regardless of sexual orientation, the right to choose to enter into relationships in the confines of their homes and their private lives and still retail their dignity as free persons.”

The court also found that, because “the conduct prohibited… is almost always done in private, the issue of public morality does not arise as a relevant limitation.”

The court ultimately sided with the claimant. “It cannot be argued that the continued criminalization of these offences is reasonably justified in a democratic society,” the judgment read.

Freddie’s Calls For Support on May 4

Freddie’s Beach Bar (555 S. 23rd St., Arlington, VA) received a bomb threat in response to their family fun storytime brunch on April 6. Their next storytime brunch will be Saturday, May 4 at 11:00 a.m. A portion of proceeds benefit local LGBTQIA+ charities. Freddie’s has posted on social media encouraging community members to show up outside the event, dressed in their favorite “rainbow / hippie” outfit and carrying homemade signs of support, to counter-protest what they expect will be another hostile demonstration in opposition to the event.

Coming Soon: Prides Across NOVA

More Pride Festivals are being announced this year than ever before in Northern Virginia! Here are the upcoming festivals here and beyond through the coming months:

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