Mrs Persad Bisessar said she agreed that ‘stigmatisation of homosexuality in Trinidad and Tobago is a matter which must be addressed on the grounds of human rights and dignity to which every individual is entitled under international law.’

A Trinidad newspaper published her letter, which was written in August, this week and a spokesman for the Prime Minister said it was ‘self-explanatory’. 

Lance Price, Executive Director of the Kaleidoscope Trust, met Mrs Persad-Bisessar in Port of Spain earlier this year. He then wrote to her urging her to remove from the statute books those pieces of legislation that discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Lance Price said: ‘The Prime Minister’s letter to me is the clearest statement ever given by a Caribbean leader of the need to get rid of laws that undermine the basic human rights of LGBT people. I was delighted to read her unequivocal opposition to discrimination in any form against people because of how they were born. What she says indicates a position of strong moral leadership on this issue. We applaud her for what she has said and look forward with great interest to seeing the new Gender Policy when it is published.’