Trinidad and Tobago's ban on gay sex overturned by UK's Privy Council

Trinidad and Tobago's ban on consensual same-sex relations between adults was overturned by the United Kingdom's Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on Tuesday, ending a nearly decade-long legal battle and striking down legislation dating back to the country's colonial era.The London-based court ruled that the Caribbean island nation's laws on same-sex relations were not in keeping with "fundamental individual right to respect for private and family life," the BBC reported.'Fight for full equality'The court's ruling marked the end of an 11-year legal battle brought by 62-year-old dual Trinidad and Tobago and UK citizen Jason Jones, who said he hoped the decision would "accelerate the fight for full equality."The ruling overturned provisions that criminalized so-called "buggery" and "serious indecency," which carried potential prison sentences of up to five years, according to CNN.Activists argued that the laws' continued existence reinforced discrimination against homosexual people, CNN reported.Delivering the judgment, Judge Philip Sales said that, "Whatever might have been the position in 1986, the current understanding of the fundamental individual right to respect for private and family life is that it protects such a core part of human identity as one's sexual orientation and the sexual activities carried out in private between consenting adults to give expression to that identity.""Laws which seek to criminalize such activities cannot be justified," Sales said.Privy Council's ruling…