St. Lucia election mirrors its increasing acceptance of the LGBTQ community.
St. Lucia’s governing Labour Party defeats anti-LGBT challengers
The Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia continued its progress in LGBTQ rights and acceptance last week, as the governing Labour Party overwhelmingly defeated an electoral challenge from the opposition United Workers Party, which ran an anti-LGBT campaign.
“While Labour haven’t been huge LGBT allies, they were better than the opposition United Workers Party, who ran an explicit anti-LGBT ‘family values’ campaign, BS were rewarded with their biggest defeat ever,” noted Rob Salerno in his LGBTQ Global newsletter. “One nice thing we can say about Labour – when the courts struck down St. Lucia’s sodomy laws this year, the government accepted the decision, sparing the country years of appeals. (CLICK HERE to subscribe to the LGBTQ Global newsletter.)
The election results were a continuation progress that St. Lucia has been making over the past years. In its country profile, Outright International noted that in St. Lucia:
“LGBTIQ visibility and activism have increased in the last decade, even as some Christian groups continue to campaign against the human rights of LGBTIQ people. Representation in the media is mixed, but there is a growing prevalence of curious, neutral, and even positive representation.
“Notably, social protections for LGBTIQ people are expanding. A new Domestic Violence Act was passed in 2022, containing gender-neutral language and permitting persons in same-sex relationships to apply for protection orders and access support services. This Domestic Violence Act is the most progressive and inclusive gender-based violence legislation in the English-speaking Caribbean.”
In connection with St. Lucia Pride in 2024, the LGBTQ advocacy organization 758 Pride cited “Growing LGBTQI+ Acceptance” in an article in the St. Lucia Times.
Jessica St. Rose, founder of 758 Pride, “acknowledged that while Saint Lucia still has a long way to go to achieve full acceptance, there has been significant progress. Our community members feel sort of safe now. We see a lot of our members going into public spaces now, Gros Islet street parties and free up themselves. They go to places like carnival, and they are very expressive during carnival.”
