Criminalisation of homosexuality: Varadkar says sorry to victims
The tribute paid by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in the Dáil to those who were criminalised for homosexual activity, and the apology offered to them by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan close a dark chapter in Irish social history.
The Taoiseach described as heroes those who suffered in silence and dread against a cruel and draconian legal system, but they were victims; the real heroes were people like David Norris, who came out — in every sense — and led the charge in the 1970s to finally win the long battle for reform.
The efforts of three amazing women should also be acknowledged: former Presidents Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese and retired Supreme Court judge, Catherine McGuinness.
The latter was a member of the sexual liberation movement, which was a catalyst for a campaign to overturn the laws that criminalised homosexual acts between men — no mean feat for a young woman in a society as repressed as Stalinist Russia.
Mrs McAleese acted as legal adviser to the early gay rights movement, while Mrs Robinson stayed with the campaign
for more than 15 years, helping to bring Mr Norris’s case against Ireland to the European Court of Human Rights, where he finally won the day.
But without Senator Norris’s commitment to the cause, it is doubtful that we would have come so far — from a Victorian-era regime in the 1970s to marriage equality in 2015.
