Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons in Antigua and Barbuda face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT citizens. The Penal Code makes same-sex acts illegal with a punishment up to 15 years in prison, but the law is not enforced. It also does not address discrimination or harassment on account of sexual orientation or gender identity, nor does it recognize same-sex unions in any form, whether it be marriage or partnerships. Household headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for any of the same rights given to opposite-sex married couples.
Legality of same-sex sexual activity
Two sections of the Sexual Offences Act, 1995 relate to same-sex sexual acts:
Section 12. A person who commits buggery is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment -
for life, if committed by an adult on a minor;
for fifteen years, if committed by an adult on another adult;
for five years, if committed by a minor.
In this section "buggery" means sexual intercourse per anum by a male person with a male person....
Section 15. A person who commits an act of serious indecency on or towards another is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment -
for ten years, if committed on or towards a minor under sixteen years of age;
for five years, if committed an or towards a person sixteen years of age of more....
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An act of "serious indecency" is an act, other than sexual intercourse, by a person involving the use of the genital organ for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire.
"Repeat Offenders" of buggery also get placed on the Sex Offenders Register for the remainder of their life. In May 2016, during the United Nations Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review, representatives from Argentina, Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Nicaragua advised the Government to repeal the sodomy ban and guarantee full human rights to vulnerable groups such as the LGBT community. Minister of Social Transformation, Samantha Marshall, subsequently announced that the sodomy ban is antiquated and should be repealed. Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Legal Affairs Maureen Payne-Hyman assured the Council that the LGBT community is not persecuted in the country. On 24 August 2016, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda announced that it has no intentions of repealing the country's sodomy ban. The announcement came after the Belize Supreme Court struck down Belize's sodomy ban as unconstitutional. However, it acknowledged that, because Belize and Antigua and Barbuda have an identical jurisprudence, if an interest group filed a lawsuit against the law in court, then it would most certainly be declared unconstitutional. On 1 November 2019, the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality announced it planned to launch a legal challenge against the ban by the end of 2019.
