Jeff Dudgeon

Jeffrey Edward Anthony Dudgeon MBE is a Northern Irish politician, historian and gay political activist. He previously sat as an Ulster Unionist Party councillor for the Balmoral area of Belfast City Council from 2014 to 2019.[1][2][3]

Jeffrey Dudgeon
MBE
Member of
Belfast City Council
In office
22 May 2014 – 6 May 2019
Preceded byNew DEA
Succeeded bySarah Bunting
ConstituencyBalmoral
Personal details
BornBelfast, Northern Ireland
NationalityBritish
Political partyUUP (since 2011)
UKUP (1995–98)
Labour Integrationist (1979)
NILP (1970s)
Residence(s)Windsor, Belfast
Alma materMagee University College
Trinity College, Dublin
ProfessionHistorian

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. During the 2014–19 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.[4] He has also published a study of Roger Casement's Black Diaries, which accepted them as genuine.

At the 1979 general election he stood as a "Labour Integrationist" candidate for Belfast South.[5]

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".[7]

References
  1. "Belfast City Council results". UTV. 17 May 2014.
  2. "Gay rights campaigner defends Ulster Unionist membership". The Guardian. 4 June 2013.
  3. "Belfast City Council results". Belfast Telegraph. 6 May 2019.
  4. "Three openly gay politicians on newly elected Belfast City Council". Belfast Telegraph. 26 May 2014.
  5. "UUP's Jeffrey Dudgeon: 'Police once raided my home and quizzed me for being gay'". Belfast Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  6. "PressReader.com - Your favorite newspapers and magazines". www.pressreader.com. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  7. "No. 60009". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2011. pp. 13–15.
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