NI gay rights activist Jeffrey Dudgeon to launch bid for return to … – Belfast Telegraph
Jeffrey Dudgeon – the man who was behind the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Northern Ireland – is launching a bid to return to frontline politics, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.
peaking to this newspaper, Mr Dudgeon – who lost his Belfast City Council seat in the 2019 local government elections – said he wants to be part of turning around the Ulster Unionist Party‘s fortunes in the city.
The UUP had a disastrous election in 2019, losing 13 seats across Northern Ireland and five in Belfast alone, leaving them with just two councillors in the city.
Mr Dudgeon is putting his name forward on the UUP ticket for May’s local government elections.
“Obviously we had a poor election in 2019 and I want to be part of the job of turning things around, which I think we can do,” he said.
“The last time we were really hurt by the Green party vote, which surged, but I think they may be past their peak and we can capitalise on that.
“I’ll be standing in Botanic, where I live, which is a difficult place to run in. But I think if the DUP only run one candidate there I could be in with a good chance.
“Since I’ve been away from the council we’ve been through Covid and everything, but I’ve continued to work on a series of community issues and I still think I have a lot to give.
“I was quite busy as a councillor, working on issues like graffiti and litter, and I was also behind getting the Belfast Blitz memorial plans off the ground.”
Mr Dudgeon said he feels the council has been focusing too much on “vanity projects” and needs to get back to tackling the issues that really impact residents, such a city centre cleanliness.
He also said, if elected, he will be calling for the council to set up a public art gallery in the city to boost the Belfast’s tourism offering.
Earlier this month marked 40 years since homosexuality was decriminalised in Northern Ireland – something Mr Dudgeon played a key role in to make happen.
His famous case, Dudgeon vs the UK, represented a landmark victory for gay people in 1981 at the European Court of Human Rights.
Up until then, homosexuality was illegal here – and potentially punishable by life imprisonment.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph recently to mark the anniversary, Mr Dudgeon described the scenes when the Bill was debated in the House of Commons.
After the Bill was passed, MPs who were secretly gay congratulated him and other activists.
Mr Dudgeon revealed that, after the celebrations in the gallery, “several of our party were seized and taken away and locked up in a cell under Big Ben”.
“They were kept there until Robin Cook MP (later foreign secretary) pleaded for their release at 2am or something,” he said.
“It wasn’t reported on as such. We had a party later and some of our key supporters only arrived near the end when they got their release.”
Mr Dudgeon also spoke of what life was like as a gay man in Belfast before the law change.
“There was always the perpetual fear of the law, of the police moving in on you,” he said.