SENATOR DAVID NORRIS

David Norris is a scholar, independent Senator and civil rights activist. He was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in Ireland and is the founder of the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform, which worked to end anti-LGBTQ+ laws in Ireland.

Senator 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 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 (in Norris v. Attorney General), 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 (Norris v. Ireland). In 1988, the European Court ruled that the law criminalising same sex activities 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. This law was repealed in 1993.