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The Dominican Republic does not ban same-sex conduct by private individuals.
The Dominican Republic's highest court is hearing a challenge to the nation's laws prohibiting law enforcement officers from engaging in consensual same-sex sexual activities.
The Human Rights Watch previously filed a brief challenging article 210 of the Code of Justice of the National Police and article 260 of the Code of Justice of the Armed Forces in the country, punish same-sex “sodomy” by officers with up to two years in prison.
“These draconian laws are a stain on the Dominican Republic’s human rights record and contribute to an unchecked discriminatory environment in the police and armed forces,” said Cristian González Cabrera, senior researcher at HRW. “State-sanctioned bigotry has no place in a democratic society governed by the rule of law and in a region that has mostly disavowed the criminalization of private sexual acts between people of the same sex.”
The Dominican Republic does not ban same-sex conduct by private individuals, only in the military and police, though the HRW notes that the country "lags behind on LGBT rights, lacking comprehensive civil anti-discrimination legislation, same-sex marriage or civil union rights, and gender identity recognition for transgender individuals." The laws involving law enforcement also make the Dominican Republic one of the few remaining countries in the Americas to criminalize same-sex relations.
The previous director of the National Police told a congressional committee in 2014 that existing legislation “does not allow people who are homosexual” to be part of the force. When asked what would happen to homosexual officers already in the police force, the then-director did not directly answer and asked for them to be identified, according to reports from the time.
“President Luis Abinader and Congress should not wait for the Constitutional Court ruling and should promptly introduce legislation to repeal these outdated and discriminatory laws that meddle in officers’ private lives,” González continued. “Repealing these laws would send a strong signal to LGBT people and the world that the principles of equality and nondiscrimination are of the utmost importance in the Dominican Republic.”
