Jeff Dudgeon Explained

Jeffrey Dudgeon
Honorific-Suffix:MBE
Office:Member of
Belfast City Council
Term Start:22 May 2014
Term End:6 May 2019
Predecessor:Bob Stoker
Successor:Sarah Bunting
Constituency:Balmoral
Birth Place:Belfast, Northern Ireland
Party:UUP (since 2011)
UKUP (1995–98)
Labour Integrationist (1979)
NILP (1970s)
Residence:Windsor, Belfast

Jeffrey Edward Anthony Dudgeon MBE is a Northern Irish politician, historian and gay political activist. A member of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), Dudgeon was a Belfast City Councillor for the Balmoral DEA from 2014 to 2019.[1] [2] [3]

Career

At the 1979 general election he stood as a "Labour Integrationist" candidate for Belfast South.[4]

He is best known for bringing the case Dudgeon v United Kingdom to the European Court of Human Rights; this successfully challenged Northern Ireland's laws criminalising consensual sexual acts between men in private.

Dudgeon was elected onto Belfast City Council at the 2014 local elections as the UUP representative for Balmoral.During the 2014 to 2019 council term, he was one of three openly gay politicians elected to the City Council, along with Mary Ellen Campbell of Sinn Féin and Julie-Anne Corr of the Progressive Unionist Party; at the 2019 local government election, all three lost their seats.[5] He has also published a study of Roger Casement's Black Diaries, which accepted them as genuine.

At the 2023 Northern Ireland local elections, Dudgeon stood as the UUP candidate in the Botanic DEA on Belfast City Council, but was unsuccessful.

Personal life

He is originally from East Belfast,[6] and attended Campbell College then Magee University College and Trinity College, Dublin. He has a long-term partner.

Honours

As part of the 2012 New Year Honours, Dudgeon was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for "services to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community in Northern Ireland".

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Belfast City Council results . UTV . June 9, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140526011233/http://www.u.tv/vote14/council.aspx?id=9 . May 26, 2014.
  2. Web site: Gay rights campaigner defends Ulster Unionist membership . . 4 June 2013 . McDonald . Henry . June 9, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131222134840/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jun/04/gay-rights-campaigner-ulster-unionists . December 22, 2013.
  3. Web site: Belfast City Council results . . 6 May 2019 . June 9, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190504190951/https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/man-who-helped-liberalise-laws-on-homosexuality-in-ni-loses-his-seat-38079119.html . May 4, 2019.
  4. News: UUP's Jeffrey Dudgeon: 'Police once raided my home and quizzed me for being gay' . Belfast Telegraph . 8 September 2020 . 0307-1235 . en-GB.
  5. Web site: Three openly gay politicians on newly elected Belfast City Council . Belfast Telegraph . 26 May 2014.
  6. Web site: My house came under attack, a breese block was thrown through the window . February 24, 2018 . PressReader . June 9, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200207141849/https://www.pressreader.com/uk/belfast-telegraph/20180224/282574493561344 . February 7, 2020.