LGBT Rights in Guyana - Laws About Same-sex Sexual Activity

Laws About Same-sex Sexual Activity

According to the Criminal Law (Offences) Act of Guyana:

Section 352. Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or is a party to the commission, or procures or attempts to procure the commission, by any male person, of any act of gross indecency with any other male person shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and liable to imprisonment for two years.

Section 353. Everyone who-

(a) attempts to commit buggery; or

(b) assaults any person with intent to commmit buggery; or

(c) being a male, indecently assaults any other male person,

shall be guilty of felony and liable to imprisonment for ten years.

Section 354. Everyone who commits buggery ... shall be guilty of felony and liable to imprisonment for life.

Section 355. Everyone who-

(a) does any indecent act in any place to which the public have or are permitted to have access; or

(b) does any indecent act in any place, intending thereby to insult or offend any person,

shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and liable to imprisonment for two years.

The law does not specifically define "buggery", "gross indecency", or "indecent".

Following a call from Dr. Edward Greene, the United Nations Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS to the Caribbean, to decriminalize homosexuality, the Guyana government announced in April 2012 that it was launching a national debate on whether to overhaul the country's laws that discriminate against LGBT people. Religious groups have voiced their opposition to any changes in those laws.