Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) persons in Belize face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT citizens, although attitudes have been changing in recent years.

[12] The case was heard by the Supreme Court of Judicature in May 2013,[13] amid violence and death threats received by LGBT activists.

[14] On 10 August 2016, Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin ruled that Section 53 of the Criminal Code of Belize contravened constitutional protections of equality, dignity and personal privacy.

[1][15] Orozco prevailed on all points in the decision, in which Benjamin reiterated that the court was required to make a legal ruling rather than a moral judgment.

Benjamin ordered that the Criminal Code be amended with the insertion of the phrase "This section shall not apply to consensual sexual acts between adults.

Nigel Hawke, the Solicitor General of Belize, argued that the ruling was a judicial overreach to re-define the constitutional protections afforded to non-discrimination on the basis of "sex" to extend to "sexual orientation".

Citing that international treaty obligations Belize had entered into are typically used to inform interpretation of domestic law, she refuted the claim of overreach.

[27][28] In response to the case filed by UNIBAM and Caleb Orozco, Catholic and the Protestant churches reacted negatively, saying that same-sex marriage would be next.

Jamaica refused, and Tomlinson petitioned the Caribbean Court of Justice asking leave to file the case with them directly.

[38] On 18 March 2015, the challenge was heard with allegations that the immigration bans abridge the rights of free movement for Caribbean citizens contained in the Treaty of Chaguaramas.

[39][40] On 10 June 2016, the CCJ ruled that neither Trinidad and Tobago nor Belize had violated Tomlinson's freedom of movement, dismissing his case.

In 1993, the language of the treaty was interpreted by the UN Commission on Human Rights to include sexual preference in the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex.

The recommendations, mostly from developed nations (namely Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Ukraine, the United States, and Uruguay) called for legislative measures to prohibit discrimination in employment, housing and government services against LGBT people, reducing societal stigma through educational campaigns, training police officials to properly respond to violence, and taking concrete steps to ensure universal access to HIV treatment.