Oral Sex illegal? Not so fast, Jomo

If oral sex is to be considered as grossly indecent and illegal under the laws of St Vincent and the Grenadines, it would only be so between members of the same sex.

So says Meisha Cruickshank, one of the lawyers representing a group of 10 churches in the legal challenge to this country’s buggery and gross indecency laws.

Cruickshank’s statement comes on the heels of the claim by another lawyer, Jomo Thomas, on WE FM last week, that oral sex between members of the opposite sex is illegal in this country.

“The law also captures, which a lot of people don’t know, section 148 is that you can go to jail for five years, if, in the privacy of your own home, you are found performing oral sex on your wife or your wife is found performing oral sex on you,” Thomas, who represents one of the two gay men challenging the buggery and gross indecency laws, said.

Section 148 of the Criminal code reads: “any person who in public or private, commits an act of gross indecency with another person of the same sex, or procures or intends to procure another person of the same sex to commit an act of gross indecency with him or her, is guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment for five years”.

And Cruickshank said that Thomas was perhaps mistaken on the law because “the section 148 does not speak about sexual acts between persons of the opposite sex so it is limited to sexual acts between persons of the same sex”.

The lawyer told SEARCHLIGHT that while the law specifies gross indecent acts between members of the same sex, it does not define what those grossly indecent acts are.

“…if at all that oral sex would be considered grossly indecent because the legislation doesn’t define what gross indecency is…,if oral sex is to be deemed as grossly indecent, under section 148, it would only be applicable to persons of the same sex,” she said.