When Irish Gays Are Smilin'
In 1895, a British court convicted Oscar Wilde of sodomy and sentenced him to hard labor at Reading jail. Now, almost a century later, Ireland's most famous bisexual has received a small measure of vindication—the European Court of Human Rights has ordered the Irish government to get rid of its antisodomy law.
Irish law currently makes homosexual acts punishable by life imprisonment. No one has been prosecuted under the law in recent years, but Dublin gay David Norris sued the government, claiming the law violates basic human rights. Irish Prime Minister Charles Haughey has indicated that he will follow the court's directions and attempt to repeal the law, despite strong opposition from conservative Catholics.
Haughey may also take on Ireland's constitutional ban on divorce. In 1986 voters narrowly rejected a referendum that would have legalized it. Polls now show that a majority supports divorce reform.
This article originally appeared in print under the headline "When Irish Gays Are Smilin’."
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?