Jeff Dudgeon

Jeffrey Edward Anthony "Jeff" 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 - 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 partyUlster Unionist Party 2011-Present and UK Unionist Party 1997.
ResidenceWindsor, Belfast
Alma materMagee University College
Trinity College, Dublin
ProfessionHistorian

He is best known for bringing a case to the European Court of Human Rights which 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.

In 1979 he stood as a Labour Integrationist candidate for Belfast South in the 1979 General election.[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'". belfasttelegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  6. "PressReader.com - Your favorite newspapers and magazines". www.pressreader.com. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  7. "No. 60009". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2011. pp. 13–15.
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