Senators reject TC decision that eliminates penalty for homosexual relations in the Police and Armed Forces

Santo Domingo.— Legislators from different benches of the Senate expressed their rejection this Wednesday of the recent ruling of the Constitutional Court (TC) which declared unconstitutional the provisions that penalized relations between people of the same sex within the National Police and the Armed Forces. Officialist Senator Santiago Zorrilla stated that the Dominican Constitution does not contemplate marriage between people of the same sex, which is why he disagreed with the court’s decision.

“There is no freedom marked in a law or in the Constitution that allows people of the same sex to marry in Dominican territory,” Zorrilla stated.

On his part, opposition senator Eduard Espíritusantos considered that the Dominican Republic “is going badly”, pointing out that the country must maintain and promote traditional values.

“As for me, we are against it. I believe that everyone can do what they understand with their life, but publicly like that, we do not agree. We are a country that must continue implementing values,” he stated.

In a more radical stance, legislator Bernardo Alemán maintained that homosexual people should not enter the ranks of the armed forces.

You can also read: Elimination of penalty for homosexual relations in the Police

The ruling TC/1225/25 annulled article 210 of Law 285, which establishes the National Police Justice Code, and article 260 of Law 3483, which regulates the Armed Forces Justice Code. The Court determined that both provisions violated the principle of reasonableness and constituted a form of unjustified discrimination against homosexual people.

The repealed articles established that “sodomy consists of carnal relations between people of the same sex, and will be punished, when it involves an officer, with a sentence of six months to one year of correctional prison”.