April Marriage Equality Advocate of the Month

8 Apr 2010

Senator David Norris

David Norris, politician, long-time human rights campaigner and outspoken advocate for marriage equality is April's Marriage Equality Advocate of the Month.

David has been inspirational in his calls for the fair and equal treatment of LGBT people in respect to equal marriage rights as well countless other issues.

For decades, David has been central to LGBT politics. Significantly, he was successful in his legal bid to overturn the criminalisation of homosexuality in Ireland. After many challenges, in 1988, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the law relating to the criminalisation of homosexuality was contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights. The law was repealed in 1993, a historic moment for Ireland's LGBT community.

Since then, David has continued to defend and promote LGBT human rights and in more recent times has been especially vocal and active in promoting equal marriage rights for same-sex couples.

David himself published a progressive Civil Partnership Bill in 2004. However, David now champions equal marriage rights as the only option for LGBT people, and has gone as far as comparing civil partnership to a 'dog licence'.

David has spoken eloquently and passionately in the Seanad, at marches and rallies, on TV, radio and print calling for an end to discrimination against LGBT people, and an introduction of equal marriage rights. He has supported us by attending photo calls to promote campaigns and given us invaluable advice. David has been a constant friend both publicly and privately and for that we are grateful.

We thank David from the bottom of our hearts, wishing him every success in the future and hopeful that his labours in this area come to fruition and equal marriage rights will soon be a reality.