Senator David Norris got his nomination and is now officially running for the Presidency of Ireland — or, as they say here, he entered the “race for the Áras”, Áras an Uachtaráin being the Irish for “the President’s Building”. Building where, as he had said in the past and has repeated today, he would not allow his spouse, if he had one.
If Senator Norris wasn’t an openly gay candidate, I doubt he would have made such a surprising statement, one that no straight candidate would make.
The Irish Parliament passed legislation to recognize same-sex unions in July 2010. Ireland is not the first Catholic country to introduce similar legislation but, like Spain, that recognition is remarkable given the strong Catholic ethos that pervaded the country until only a few decades ago; most schools are still run by religious orders, and nurses in hospitals are still often colloquially called “sisters”.
Not only that: well-organized and visible groups like Marriage Equality have been campaigning for a full civil marriage for same-sex couples for years, and Equality Authority chairwoman Angela Kerins recently stated that “the Authority remained committed to seeing gay marriage introduced.” Politicians from different parties march along during the Gay Pride parades that take place in the largest Irish towns every year, and the Local authorities officially support the event. In short, LGBT people in Ireland may soon have spouses.
No small part in all this was played by Senator Norris himself, when in 1988 he challenged the Irish Supreme Court before the European Court of Human Rights and won, leading to the decriminalization of homosexuality in Ireland. No small feat.
It is therefore unbelievable and disheartening that he should now be state that his gay spouse, if he had one, would not live in Áras an Uachtaráin. In order to woo a wider electorate — or, as he has often put it, to be the President of all Irish people — David Norris is now openly saying that a gay spouse should be treated different from a heterosexual one. In the future, “No” campaigners in a referendum about gay marriage in Ireland will be able to quote him.
Tags: Áras, David Norris, gay marriage, marriage equality, spouse
