This is an accepted version of this page David Patrick Bernard Norris (born 31 July 1944)[1] is an Irish scholar, former independent Senator, and civil rights activist.
[2][3][4][5] 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.
[12][13] In January 2024 he retired from the Seanad after 36 years service, making him the longest serving senator in Irish history.
in English Literature and Language, where he was elected a Foundation Scholar in 1965 in that subject before achieving a 1st Class Moderatorship in 1967 and editing Icarus, the university literary magazine.
[22][23] Norris left his role as a lecturer after Trinity College authorities said the situation arising from his illness was "untenable", although he remained an elected senator.
I did start out on that campaign [for homosexual law reform] but I found very quickly that the mechanism of discrimination was exactly the same against women, against ethnic minorities, against the handicapped, so I broadened out and this now is how I see things, very much so.
[29] He resigned from the Seanad in January 2024, and received tributes from president Michael D. Higgins and taoiseach Leo Varadkar delivered to the cathaoirleach.
[33] Facebook support for a presidential bid drew comparisons with Barack Obama's campaign for the American presidency.
[45] Norris's candidacy was endorsed by British actor and writer Stephen Fry, who said Ireland "couldn't have a more intelligent passionate and knowledgeable witty or committed President".
[46] In late July, it was revealed that Norris had written a letter in 1997 to an Israeli court asking clemency for his former partner Ezra Nawi, who had been convicted of the statutory rape of a 15-year-old Palestinian boy but was awaiting sentencing.
Norris's letter, written on parliamentary notepaper, said that Nawi had been lured into a "carefully prepared trap" and had unwisely pleaded guilty to the charges.
[48] It was claimed by some that these allegations, complete with Norris's subsequent defence of his comments on pederasty in ancient Greece would seriously damage his chances of securing a nomination.
[52] On 1 August, the Independent TDs John Halligan, Finian McGrath and Thomas Pringle announced that they were withdrawing their support for Norris over the revelations of the Nawi plea.
Despite withdrawing from the presidential race in July 2011, Norris maintained considerable and, in some cases, increased public support.
[62] In Galway city alone, more than 1,000 signatures in support of Norris for President were gathered from members of the public in just 12 hours on the weekend of 11 September.
A Sunday Independent/Millward Brown Lansdowne opinion poll published on 18 September showed a high amount of popular support for Senator David Norris of 34 per cent.
[70] When Norris heard this on the radio he instructed his driver to stop the car so that he could phone Higgins to express his appreciation.
[72] In the first debate, held on RTÉ Radio 1's News at One, Norris promised the electorate he would have no difficulty in either visiting Israel or in meeting Pope Benedict XVI as president of Ireland.
[73] Speaking after the disclosure of various fees received by his rivals Mary Davis and Seán Gallagher after they were appointed to State and commercial boards, Norris confirmed he had no stocks or shares to his name and that he was not a company director.
On his website Norris lists his concerns as "Human Rights Issues, Foreign Policy, Immigration/Asylum, European Union, Luas/Metro".
[79] Norris is also a well-known Joycean scholar and plays a large part in Dublin's annual Bloomsday celebrations.
[82][83]On 31 July 2014, he delivered a speech at Seanad Éireann about the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict to denounce the violations of human rights by the State of Israel.
[88]On 11 March 2008, Norris called for the broadcast of the documentary Fairytale of Kathmandu (scheduled to be shown that evening on RTÉ) to be postponed.
The film documented visits to Nepal by Irish poet Cathal Ó Searcaigh, during which he had sex with young boys.
The issue was conveyed to Deputy John Cregan, the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.
[89] An article in The Sunday Times claimed that Norris had, on more than one occasion, denounced the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising as "terrorists".
Norris also described the pope's position as "calculated and deliberate wickedness" because he "closes down scholarly enquiry" and because he "marginalised all the wonderful people like Oscar Romero, Leonardo Boff, Hans Kung, Charles Curran, all these marvellous people who are the future and the hope of the Church and, instead, put into place these mindless bureaucrats, which is intensely sad.
[92] In a January 2002 interview for politics/current affairs magazine Magill, Norris discussed the age of consent, incest, paedophilia and pederasty.
[16][93][94] The interviewer, restaurant critic Helen Lucy Burke, said, "I found some of his views on sexual matters deeply disturbing – notably on sex with minors".
[99] Norris also spoke about the Magill profile in an interview with Joe Jackson for the Sunday Independent, in which he refutes the allegations, saying he responded in "horror", and that "it so completely misrepresents everything I said.