The Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform was an organisation set up to campaign for the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in the 1970s. [1] [2] Its most prominent leader was David Norris, an English studies lecturer in Trinity College Dublin, Joycean scholar and from the 1980s to the present a member of Seanad Éireann. [3]
While serving as a lecturer at Trinity College, Norris and a group of other students informally established the Sexual Liberation Movement in 1974. It was short-lived, but two of the splinter organizations formed on campus were the Dublin University Gay Society, the first long-term LGBT rights organization in Ireland, and a group of law students known as the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform.
Its first legal advisor was Mary McAleese, Reid Professor of Law at Trinity College Dublin, future President of Ireland; she served as legal advisor from 1975 to 1979, when she left her professorial position to join RTÉ. She was succeeded in that role in the 1980s by Mary Robinson, a former Reid Professor of Law and then-Trinity College Senator, who later became the first female President of Ireland.
Norris took a case to the Irish High Court in 1980 seeking a declaration that the laws of 1861 and 1885 which criminalised homosexual conduct were not in force since the enactment of the Constitution of Ireland. Article 50 of the Constitution provides that laws enacted before the Constitution that are inconsistent with it would no longer be in force. The case (Norris v. Attorney General) was lost on legal grounds and the decision was upheld on appeal to the Supreme Court of Ireland which referred in its judgment to Christian moral teaching and the needs of society.
Norris then took a case in 1983 to the European Court of Human Rights claiming that the Irish laws breached the state's obligations under Article 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, regarding respect for private life (Norris v. Ireland). In a 1988 ruling, the court found that the Irish laws were in breach of the convention and directed the state to pay costs to Norris.
No reform action was taken by the then government of Taoiseach Charles Haughey. When Albert Reynolds succeeded as Taoiseach in 1992, he declared that it was low on his list of priorities. However, in his subsequent coalition Fianna Fáil/Labour Party government, as a result of pressure from the Labour Party the laws were reformed by the Minister for Justice, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn in 1993. She was noted for insisting that an equal age of consent be provided for homosexuals and heterosexuals alike.
David Patrick Bernard Norris is an Irish scholar, former independent Senator, and civil rights activist. 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 fourteen-year campaign. He has also been credited with being "almost single-handedly responsible for rehabilitating James Joyce in once disapproving Irish eyes".
William Binchy is an Irish lawyer. He was the Regius Professor of Laws at Trinity College Dublin from 1992 to 2012.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Ireland since 16 November 2015. A referendum on 22 May 2015 amended the Constitution of Ireland to provide that marriage is recognised irrespective of the sex of the partners. The measure was signed into law by the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, as the Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland on 29 August 2015. The Marriage Act 2015, passed by the Oireachtas on 22 October 2015 and signed into law by the Presidential Commission on 29 October 2015, gave legislative effect to the amendment. Same-sex marriages in Ireland began being recognised from 16 November 2015, and the first marriage ceremonies of same-sex couples in Ireland occurred the following day. Ireland was the eighteenth country in the world and the eleventh in Europe to allow same-sex couples to marry nationwide.
Dudgeon v United Kingdom (1981) was a European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case, which held that Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, which criminalised male homosexual acts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, breached the defendant's rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Catherine McGuinness is a retired Irish judge who served as a Judge of the Supreme Court from 2000 to 2006, a Judge of the High Court from 1996 to 2000, a Judge of the Circuit Court from 1994 to 1996 and a Senator for the Dublin University from 1979 to 1981 and between 1983 and 1987. She was appointed by President Patrick Hillery to the Council of State from 1988 to 1990 and by President Michael D. Higgins from 2012 to 2019.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in the Republic of Ireland are regarded as some of the most progressive in Europe and the world. Ireland is notable for its transformation from a country holding overwhelmingly conservative attitudes toward LGBT issues, in part due to the opposition by the Roman Catholic Church, to one holding overwhelmingly liberal views in the space of a generation. In May 2015, Ireland became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage on a national level by popular vote. The New York Times declared that the result put Ireland at the "vanguard of social change". Since July 2015, transgender people in Ireland can self-declare their gender for the purpose of updating passports, driving licences, obtaining new birth certificates, and getting married. Both male and female expressions of homosexuality were decriminalised in 1993, and most forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation are now outlawed. Ireland also forbids incitement to hatred based on sexual orientation. Article 41 of the Constitution of Ireland explicitly protects the right to marriage irrespective of sex.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 2006.
Norris v. Ireland was a case decided by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 1988, in which David Norris successfully charged that Ireland's criminalisation of certain homosexual acts between consenting adult men was in breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Save Ulster from Sodomy was a political campaign launched in 1977 by Ian Paisley, MP, then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Free Presbyterian Church, to prevent the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Northern Ireland. The campaign was ultimately unsuccessful.
The Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) was an Irish LGBTQ rights group based in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1988 by Don Donnelly, Charles Kerrigan, Suzy Byrne, Kieran Rose and Christopher Robson. It focused on achieving change in legislation and social policy to achieve full equality and inclusion for lesbian, gay and bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Ireland, and protection from all forms of discrimination. Its board of directors were Margot Slattery (chair), Simon Nugent, Muriel Walls, Séamus Dooley and Dr. Fergus Ryan. In May 2017 it was announced that it would close.
LGBTQ+ life on the island of Ireland is made up of persons who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or otherwise.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Northern Ireland enjoy most of the same rights as non-LGBT people. However, the advancement of LGBT rights has traditionally been slower than the rest of the United Kingdom, with the region having lagged behind England, Scotland, and Wales. Northern Ireland was the last part of the United Kingdom where same-sex sexual activity was decriminalised, the last to implement a blood donation “monogamous no waiting period” policy system for men who have sex with men and, after intervention by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the last to allow same-sex marriage. Compared to the neighbouring Republic of Ireland, all major LGBT rights milestones had been reached earlier in Northern Ireland, with the exception of same-sex marriage. Homosexuality was decriminalised in Northern Ireland a decade earlier and civil partnerships were introduced six years earlier.
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. Same-sex sexual activity was decriminalized in Belize in 2016, when the Supreme Court declared Belize's anti-sodomy law unconstitutional. Belize's constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, which Belizean courts have interpreted to include sexual orientation.
The Dublin LGBTQ+ Pride Festival is an annual series of events which celebrates lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ+) life in Dublin, Ireland. It is the largest LGBTQ+ pride festival on the island of Ireland. The festival culminates in a pride parade which is held annually on the last Saturday in June. The event has grown from a one-day event in 1974 to a ten-day festival celebrating LGBT culture in Ireland with an expanded arts, social and cultural content.
The Colley Report is a 2006 paper on same-sex marriage and civil partnership produced for the Irish Government. Formally known as the Options Paper on Cohabiting Couples (2006), the report was named after its chair, Anne Colley.
The history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Ireland.
Norris v The Attorney General is a 1983 judgement from the Supreme Court of Ireland that held that the law which criminalised homosexuality was not against the Constitution of Ireland. David Norris was subsequently successful in the European Court of Human Rights, where in Norris v. Ireland (1988) they found that the law was in breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Séamus Anthony Henchy was an Irish judge, barrister, and academic who served as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland between 1972 and 1988 and a Judge of the High Court from 1962 to 1972. Many of Henchy's judgments are considered to be influential in the development of Irish constitutional law.
The legal career of Mary Robinson, which occurred prior to her becoming President of Ireland in 1990, lasted over 22 years. Made a barrister in 1967, Robinson specialised in constitutional, criminal, and European community law.
