Jeffrey Edward Anthony Dudgeon MBE (born January 1946) is a Northern Irish politician, historian and gay political activist. A member of the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded as the Ulster Unionist Council in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it l ...

(UUP), Dudgeon was a

Belfast City Council Belfast City Council () is the Local government in Northern Ireland, local authority with responsibility for part of Belfast, the largest city of Northern Ireland. The council serves an estimated population of (), the largest of any district c ...

lor for the Balmoral DEA from

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Career

At the 1979 general election he stood as a "Labour Integrationist" candidate for Belfast South. He is best known for bringing the case ''

Dudgeon v United Kingdom ''Dudgeon v United Kingdom'' (1981) was a European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) case, which held that Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, which criminalised male homosexual acts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, breached ...

'' to the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

; this successfully challenged Northern Ireland's laws criminalising consensual sexual acts between men in private. Dudgeon was elected onto

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 Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

and Julie-Anne Corr of the

Progressive Unionist Party The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) is a minor unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed from the Independent Unionist Group operating in the Shankill area of Belfast, becoming the PUP in 1979. Linked to the Ulster Volunte ...

; at the 2019 local government election, all three lost their seats. He has also published a study of

Roger Casement Roger David Casement (; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during World War I. He worked for the Britis ...

'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, and attended

Campbell College Campbell College located in Belfast, Northern Ireland and founded in 1894 comprises a preparatory school department (junior age) and a senior Northern Ireland 'Voluntary Grammar' school, the latter meaning, in terms of provision of education, a ...

then

Magee University College The Ulster University Derry~Londonderry campus, better known as Magee College, is one of the four campuses of Ulster University. It is located in Derry, Northern Ireland, and was opened in 1865 as a Presbyterian Christian arts and Seminary, the ...

and

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

. He has a long-term partner.

Honours

As part of the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

, Dudgeon was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) for "services to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community in Northern Ireland".

References

External links

Article on MBE award

Roger Casement: The Black Diaries - with a study of his background, sexuality, and Irish political life (Second Edition)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dudgeon, Jeff Living people Politicians from Belfast Members of the Order of the British Empire Gay politicians from Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist Party politicians LGBTQ rights activists from Northern Ireland Year of birth missing (living people)