The Irish politician and a human rights activist, Senator David Norris was a special guest in the “30 minutes in the company of …” section at the end of the first day of the fourth course of the National Program “Governing Skills”. The famous politician welcomed the trainees with a few words in Bulgarian and congratulated them on the fact that Bulgaria is now the capital of Europe. Senator Norris began talking about the Istanbul Convention by saying that he was aware that there were difficulties in accepting it in Bulgaria, while in Ireland this was not the case.
“I do not think there should be pressure on the Bulgarian Government to adopt the Istanbul Convention, I consider this approach to be wrong. This has to be done by a debate”, said David Norris.
Homosexuality in the Republic of Ireland was a criminal offense 25 years ago. Norris’s lawsuits against the state which were later on moved to the European Court of Human Rights have led the Irish Government to decriminalize homosexuality in 1993 and a few years ago to approve marriages between same-sex couples.
Senator Norris shared with the participants the path that he has gone to fight the rights of this community.