An appeals court in Trinidad and Tobago has recriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations in the country.

Jason Jones, an LGBTQ activist from Trinidad and Tobago who currently lives in the U.K., in 2017 challenged Sections 13 and 16 of the country’s Sexual Offenses Act. High Court Justice Devindra Rampersad the following year found them unconstitutional.

The country’s government appealed Rampersad’s ruling.

Court of Appeal Justices Nolan Bereaux and Charmaine Pemberton overturned it on March 25. The Daily Express newspaper reported Justice Vasheist Kokaram dissented.

“As an LGBTQ+ citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, this regressive judgement has ripped up my contract as a citizen of T&T and again makes me an unapprehended criminal in the eyes of the law,” said Jones in a statement he posted to social media. “The TT Court of Appeal has effectively put a target on the back of LGBTQIA+ people and made us lower class citizens in our own country.”

Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, and Dominica are among the countries that have decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations in recent years.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2021 issued a decision that said Jamaica must repeal its colonial-era sodomy law. The Jamaican Supreme Court in 2023 ruled against a gay man who challenged it.

A judge on St. Vincent and the Grenadines’s top court last year dismissed two cases that challenged the country’s sodomy laws.

Jones in his statement said he “will be exercising my right of appeal and taking this matter to the” Privy Council, an appellate court for British territories that can also consider cases from Commonwealth countries.

King Charles III is not Trinidad and Tobago’s head of the state, but the country remains part of the Commonwealth.

“I hope justice will be done and these heinous discriminatory laws, a legacy of British colonialism, will be removed by the British courts,” said Jones.

President Donald Trump on Thursday withdrew U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)’s nomination to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

The Associated Press noted Trump in a Truth Social post said it was “essential to maintain every Republican seat in Congress.”

Republicans currently have a narrow 218-213 majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Special elections to fill the seats that National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) vacated when they joined the Trump-Vance administration and resigned respectively will take place on April 1 in Florida.

“Elise Stefanik is truly a great leader and a devoted patriot,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in a statement. “Today’s selfless decision shows America what those of us who work with her already know. She is deeply devoted to her country and fully committed to see President Trump’s agenda succeed in Congress.”

“It is well known Republicans have a razor-thin House majority, and Elise’s agreement to withdraw her nomination will allow us to keep one of the toughest, most resolute members of our conference in place to help drive forward President Trump’s America First policies,” he added. “There is no doubt she would have served with distinction as our ambassador to the United Nations, but we are grateful for her willingness to sacrifice that position and remain in Congress to help us save the country.”

Stefanik, 40, has represented New York’s 21st Congressional District since 2015. She later became chair of the House Republican Conference.

Stefanik in 2019 voted for the Equality Act, but she opposed it in 2021. Stefanik in 2022 is among the dozens of Republicans who voted for the Respect for Marriage Act that then-President Joe Biden signed.

Stefanik, among other things, has also been outspoken against antisemitism on college campuses.

Trump has not said who he will nominate to become U.N. ambassador. Johnson in his statement said he will “invite her to return to the leadership table” of the House Republican Conference “immediately.”

UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima on Monday said 6.3 million more people around the world will die of AIDS-related complications over the next four years if the U.S. does not fully restore its foreign assistance.

“[If] the U.S. assistance for HIV is not restored after the pause and is not replaced by other funding, and we have not heard of other governments pledging to fill the gap, there will be an additional, in the next four years, 6.3 million more AIDS-related deaths,” said Byanyima during a press conference in Geneva.

The Trump-Vance administration in January froze nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for at least 90 days. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later issued a waiver that allows the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS relief and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during the freeze.

The Washington Blade has previously reported PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya and other African countries have been forced to suspend services and even shut down because of a lack of U.S. funding. Byanyima on Monday confirmed these closures.

“This sudden withdrawal of U.S. funding has led to the shutting down of many clinics, laying off thousands of health workers,” she said. “These are nurses, doctors, lab technicians, pharmacy workers, all kind of data entrists. It’s all a lot.”

Byanyima told reporters this loss of funding could translate into an estimated 2,000 more HIV infections a day.

She said the cuts have disproportionately impacted HIV prevention and treatment efforts in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Byanyima further stressed LGBTQ people and other marginalized groups have been left even more vulnerable to the epidemic.

“Since there was a waiver to PEPFAR, we’ve seen some services coming back, particularly treatment services, but challenges are there, particularly for key populations,” she said. “These people who have been served by special services that help them overcome stigma, discrimination, and criminalization: I’m talking of LGBTQ people, sex workers, people who inject drugs, and as I said girls and young women.”

“Prevention services are not coming back that easily because … in addition to the cuts, there is also a push back on rights and people who have been experiencing discrimination, stigma, who are criminalized are afraid to come for services to places where they might face discrimination,” added Byanyima. “So, we’re seeing the centers that were providing them with prevention services not reopening for fear that this might not be consistent with the new guidelines.”

Then-President George W. Bush in 2003 signed legislation that created PEPFAR. Byanyima noted it has saved 26 million lives. (Congress did not reauthorize PEPFAR before Wednesday’s deadline.)

“The United States has been an incredible partner for us, UNAIDS, (and) of course (the) Global Fund, working closely with their PEPFAR program,” she said.

The State Department on Wednesday declined to comment on Byanyima’s remarks.