Attorneys Make Closing Arguments in the Case of Caleb Orozco

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PRESS RELEASE

Attorneys Make Closing Arguments in the Case of Caleb Orozco
May 8, 2013

Christopher Smith-Hamel SC, lead attorney for Orozco and UNIBAM, made closing arguments today in the case of Caleb Orozco v. The Attorney General. In closing, he quoted Bishop Desmond Tutu, the Anglican humanitarian leader from South Africa.
“’Our lesbian and gay brothers and sisters across Africa and elsewhere are living in fear, and they are living in hiding...Exclusion is never the way forward on our shared path to freedom and justice.’”
The closing arguments were followed by submissions by Lord Goldsmith QC, an attorney representing three law related organizations who have intervened in the case in support of the Claimant.
In his submission, Goldsmith examined the issue from a global perspective, demonstrating that a large number of Commonwealth and other countries have decriminalized same sex conduct, among them, India, Armenia, the Balkans, New Zealand and Azerbaijan.
He added, “It somewhat ironic that so much ink has been spent in characterizing my clients as foreigners…when in fact the law [the opponents] are trying to hard to preserve is a colonial import; it is a legacy of British rule.”

For updates, follow #UNIBAM BELIZE
@AsaDeMatteo will be blogging live from the Supreme Court
For photos, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/95524458@N07/

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