David Norris (politician)

For other people named David Norris, see David Norris (disambiguation).

David Norris
Senator
Incumbent
Assumed office April 1987
Constituency	University of Dublin
Personal details
Born	(1944-07-01) 1 July 1944 Leopoldville, Belgian Congo
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Independent
Alma mater	University of Dublin
Website	Official website, Campaign website

David Patrick Bernard Norris (born 1 July 1944) is an Irish civil rights campaigner, scholar, independent politician, and current front-runner for the 2011 Irish presidential election. He is a former university lecturer and a member of Seanad Éireann since 1987. He is the founder of the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform and is a prominent member of the Church of Ireland. Norris was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in Ireland.

Internationally, Norris is credited with having "managed, almost single-handedly, to overthrow the anti-homosexuality law which brought about the downfall of Oscar Wilde", a feat he achieved in 1988 after a 14-year campaign. He has also been credited with being "almost single-handedly responsible for rehabilitating James Joyce in once disapproving Irish eyes".

Early life

Norris was born in Leopoldville in the Belgian Congo. His father John was English and worked as chief engineer for Lever Brothers. He also served for the British Armed Forces in World War I and World War II. John died when Norris was still a child, and he was sent to Ireland to be cared for by his mother, Aida Fitzpatrick, and her extended family.

Education and academic career

Norris attended school at St. Andrew's College and The High School. He then entered Trinity College, Dublin to read for the degree of B.A. in English Literature and Language, where he was elected a Foundation Scholar in that subject before achieving a 1st Class Moderatorship and editing Icarus. He remained at Trinity as a lecturer and college tutor between 1968 and 1996. His love of Joyce is borne out in Dublin's annual Bloomsday celebrations. He defended Ulysses when Roddy Doyle said it was "overlong, overrated and unmoving", calling Doyle a "foolish" and "moderate talent". He is an Irish language speaker.

Campaigning and Activism

Norris took the Attorney General to the High Court over the criminalisation of homosexual acts. His claim was based on the fact that the law infringed on his right to privacy to have consensual sex with a man and that since the introduction of the Constitution of Ireland the law passed under British rule became repugnant to the constitution. The High Court ruled against Norris. He appealed his case to the Supreme Court of Ireland. In 1983, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law by a three to two verdict.

Having lost the Supreme Court case, Norris took his case to the European Court of Human Rights (See Norris v. Ireland). In 1988, the European Court ruled that the law criminalising male-to-male sex was contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular Article 8 which protects the right to respect for private life. The law was held to infringe on the right of adults to engage in acts of their own choice.

"The first and immediate thing about the European decision is the enlargement of dignity and freedom for gay people - but I think a decision like this enhances the dignity and freedom of all the people of Ireland because it pushes us towards a more tolerant and plural society". - Norris's reaction to the European ruling, 1988.

This law was repealed in 1993.

Political career

Norris represents the University of Dublin constituency in the Seanad as an Independent. He was first elected to the Seanad in 1987, and has been re-elected at each election since. In March 2011, Norris announced his intention to run in the 2011 Irish presidential election. He has topped several opinion polls as the person most Irish people would like to see as their next president. On 14 March 2011, he launched his campaign to secure a nomination. On 9 May 2011, he crossed the first hurdle in seeking to run for the presidency, after he was nominated by Fingal Co Council.

Views

A resident of North Great George's Street in Dublin, he is a member of the Irish Georgian Society and is an active campaigner for the preservation of Georgian buildings in the Republic of Ireland. Norris is also a well-known Joycean scholar, and plays a large part in Dublin's annual Bloomsday celebrations.

It has been suggested that in an interview with the restaurant critic and columnist Helen Lucy Burke for Magill Magazine in January 2002, he questioned the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual intercourse and questioned social attitudes toward incest. Norris has addressed this matter, stating that "Miss Burke and I got into an academic discussion about classical Greece and sexual activity in a historical context; it was a hypothetical, intellectual conversation which should not have been seen as a considered representation of my views on some of the issues discussed over dinner. The article did contain other valid comments from me on human rights and equality issues but the references to sexual activity were what were emphasised and subsequently picked up and taken out of context in other media outlets." The statement by Norris continued to say that the article was misleading, and that he was "deeply upset by the manner in which these comments are being deliberately misinterpreted by others for political gain."

On 11 March 2008, Norris called for the broadcast of the documentary Fairytale of Kathmandu (scheduled to be shown that evening on RTÉ) to be postponed. The film documented visits to Nepal by Irish poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh, during which he had sex with young boys. It questioned whether he was sexually exploiting the boys or engaging in child sex tourism. Norris criticized that the film had been leaked beforehand and that Ó Searcaigh had been treated harshly by the media before its broadcast. He announced to the Seanad that the film should be checked for factuality, as it had been funded by the State. The issue was conveyed to Deputy John Cregan, the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, by Senator Donie Cassidy. Following this, Norris wrote a letter to The Irish Times defending his position on the documentary.

On 21 May 2010, The Belfast Telegraph reported that Norris said the Republic should join the Commonwealth. It quoted him as saying: "It would produce very useful cultural, financial and political contacts for this country and among other things would enable Irish athletes to compete in the Commonwealth Games". The comments were allegedly made at the launch of a book by the Reform Movement called Ireland and the Commonwealth: Towards Membership. In May 2011 he emphatically denied the claim as "totally untrue". An uncited article in The Sunday Times claimed that Norris had, on more than one occasion, denounced the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising as "terrorists". In May 2011, Norris denied the article's claim, calling it a "slur" and "unfair"; the newspaper printed a retraction at his behest.

Awards

• Council of Europe Travelling Scholarship
• Walter Wormser Harris Prize'
• Foundation Scholarship in English Literature and Language
• European Human Rights Prize (nomination)

External links

• David Norris presidential bid website
• David Norris' senatorial website