As Pride Month comes to a close, we are reminded just how far Ireland has come in the last 50 years. Senator David Norris had a huge role to play in the decriminalization of homosexuality in Ireland which eventually occurred in 1993. Norris, along with future presidents of Ireland Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese, had set up a Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform in the late 1970s and in a private capacity, Norris began legal proceedings to decriminalize homosexual acts in Ireland in 1997.
Norris had unsuccessfully taken the Attorney General to the High Court over the criminalization of homosexual acts and appealed his case to the Supreme Court of Ireland. In 1983 the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the existing law. Having exhausted all domestic avenues, Norris appealed the Irish Court’s decision to the European Court of Human Rights in 1983 and this Court passed judgement in his favour in 1988. The Court found that the Irish laws in place breached Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In 1993, the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act was introduced which finally abolished the laws which made homosexuality a crime.
Norris went to visit the records relating to his case on display at the National Archives last week on 22 June. Speaking at the event, he said;
“I am delighted that the National Archives has decided to display papers relating to my case in the European Court of Human Rights during Pride month. It was a historic moment and I was served by a very good legal team led by Mary Robinson”.
The Director of the National Archives, Orlaith McBride thanked Norris;
“David Norris’s tenacious courage over thirty years ago led to one of the most transformative changes in Irish law and Irish life. So many other future developments in Irish society such as Marriage Equality would not have been possible had it not been for his brave journey which started in the 1970s.
We are a more diverse and inclusive society today thanks to Senator Norris, and Pride Week is a celebration not just for our LGBTQ+ community but for the whole of society”.
McBride also added that “The records of the Dublin Castle Scandal of 1884 and the contemporary records relating to the David Norris v Ireland Case, demonstrate the value of the National Archives in protecting and making available the records of the state from our historical collections to more recent government records”.
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