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Changing Attitudes
Address by Senator David Norris at the service to mark international against
homophobia at 3.30 P.M. in Christ Church Cathedral on Sunday the 17th of May 2009.
My Memories of the Trinity Ball [Trinity News]
Trinity Days
My memories of the Trinity Ball go back to the mid 1960s. Trinity was then
a small university of about 3,000 staff and students. Unusually in Dublin
there was a strong international flavour to the college in what was then
still essentially a provincial capital. There was a ground base of Irish
students mainly Protestant and largely penniless like myself, a clatter of
Hurray Henrys from the UK rejected by Oxford and Cambridge for one reason
or another who arrived complete with cravats, toney accents, sports cars
and glamorous girlfriends as well as a few exotic blooms like the great
black rugby player John Croker. Trinity Week was the highlight of the
Dublin social season and the Trinity Ball its zenith.
The Ball was the epitome of glamour. I remember two county "gels" whose
boyfriends (officers in one of the Guards Regiments) flew in from Germany
in a private plane.
Being gay and in love with a basically heterosexual man I didn’t have a
girlfriend, but I had plenty of female friends and on two occasions I
escorted young women. Both were beauties, one was a dark haired Irish
stunner who had just got engaged but told me she would love to go because
she knew I was “safe”. I rather resented this and littered the dashboard of
the car with contraband condoms in order to make her nervous. The other was
an American heiress, one of the jet set, who wore an original creation by
Balenciaga. And there was a third a lively and entertaining piece from one
of the great land owning families who told me with unconscious irony what a
pleasure it was to be with a real man because all the partners her parents
suggested turned out to be fairies.
In terms of sheer volume it was rather quieter than modern day revels. I
danced in the dining hall to the strains of Strauss waltzes and did the
Charleston in the Exam Hall to the music of Chris Barber’s jazz band. The
food was eclectic and there was a bit of a scramble to get it – I remember
suckling pigs being roasted on a spit in the now vanished Fellows Garden.
Looking back now it was very much a period piece. Each reveller was
provided with a dance card containing a little programme which told you
where the various entertainments was located and also practical advice such
as the information that ladies ball gowns could be repaired by a team of
seamstresses who were in attendance in the Elizabethan Society Rooms in
number 6.
On a couple of occasions I engaged in a mild crashing of the ball. Having
rooms in College this was comparatively easy. You just waited until the
thing was in full swing and then emerged from Botany Bay and mingled with
the crowds. On one occasion I attended a rival attraction organised by
Republican elements in concert with the Cumann Gaelic quite inappropriately
attired in my uncle’s court suit with gold buttons and purple and yellow
facings and a silk top hat. I delighted them by singing the National Anthem
in Irish but they were less impressed by my encore which was God Save the
Queen. Fortified by considerable quantities of cheap wine I tottered
through a side door into college to be met by bouncers who asked me where I
thought I was going and who I thought I was? I told them I was the
Mongolian Ambassador and was a guest at the Trinity Ball and rather to my
surprise I was admitted, perhaps because as a result of the alcohol my
features had assumed a convincingly Mongoloid appearance. After the Ball
was over the odd heart as well as the dawn was often breaking and the
survivors made their way past bedraggled and tear stained butterflies to
Bewleys in Grafton Street for a cholesterol rich breakfast.
I was not so secretly envied by my friends for the beauty and
sophistication of my female companions but they meant little to me. It
wasn’t until ten years ago that I actually attended with a male heart
throb, an old flame who was an Israeli discus and javelin champion. This
time when in the sweaty confines of the Buttery disco he removed his shirt
as we jived to a throbbing beat revealing his superb muscular development
the envy was indeed justified and I knew at last the thrill of public
romance. Nowadays I am gone a bit beyond that kind of thing but I send you
all butterlies, wallflowers and fairies my blessings for a memorable night
out.
from "Trinity News" April 2009
Donation to the National Library of papers
About 18 months ago I was approached by the Keeper of Manuscripts in the National Library Dr. Gerry Lyne with a proposal that they should buy "my papers" i.e. the records of my political and cultural life. I was very flattered and indicated that rather than selling them I would be happy to make them available to the State for nothing. We had a splendid occasion on December the 17th where four cases containing papers were put on display in the Rotunda and the Librarian of the National Library and former President and Senator Mary Robinson (who was my barrister in a number of significant legal cases) very graciously spoke. This little exhibition is still on view in the vestibule leading to the magnificent Yeats exhibition.
The papers cover three or four specific areas in particular. Firstly I suppose in the popular mind because it was so controversial I am identified with the emergence of the gay movement in Ireland as the founder of groups such as the Irish Gay Rights Movement, the National Gay Federation and the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform. Materials related to all these organisations have been deposited as well legal papers from the various constitutional cases taken in the High Court and the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights and a comprehensive archive of press cuttings.
The next area with which I am usually associated in the public mind is probably the preservation of Georgian Dublin and especially the work of the North Great Georges Street Preservation Society. In June 1979 I called a meeting of some neighbouring householders in my drawing room in number 18 North Great Georges Street and at that meeting a decision was taken to found the North Great Georges Street Preservation Society. I was elected chairman, a position I filled for the next 25 years. We conducted a survey of the street and from the information gathered put together a fairly complete list of all the houses, the date of their construction, the architects and stuccadores involved, the condition, the number of tenants, current use, current owner and availability on the market.
A modest but useful grant was made by the Heritage Trust (about 3,000 pounds in 1980). At my suggestion this was employed in staging a professionally mounted exhibition highlighting the problems and the potential of North Great Georges Street. An original copy of the accompanying booklet which I wrote in collaboration with our in house architect in the Society and long time neighbour in the street Tom Kiernan is included in the donation.
I have been directly or indirectly involved in the positive change of ownership of 12 out of the 48 houses in the street. Perhaps one of the most significant was the rescuing just before it was demolished of number 35 and the raising of funds to restore this important house as the James Joyce Cultural Centre. Inevitably (rather in the manner of Toad of Toad Hall) I was its first chairman and remained so for over a quarter of a century. My involvement with James Joyce and the popularising of Bloomsday in Dublin are also covered by a deposit of papers concerning among other things the three international Joyce Symposia which I chaired and of whose proceedings I was the co-Editor and other material (although quite a lot of the papers concerning the Joyce Symposia had already been donated together with my large library of Joyce scholarly books to form part of the library collection of the James Joyce Centre).
There is also material concerning my James Joyce one man show 'Do You Hear What I Am Seeing' which saw the light of day in its first form 30 years ago when it was performed in Trinity College Players Theatre as a two hander with the great Dublin folk singer Ronnie Drew. This has gone through various changes and luckily due to the vagaries of law I hold the copy right and so was able to continue to perform before during and after the confused Joyce periods of James Joyce copyright. Among the papers donated are some of the scripts of the show, early programmes and a very large collection of posters from various theatres and venues ranging from China, many of the European countries, the Middle East and Far East, both North and South America where this show has been performed. Its most recent outing was on the 25th of November to raise money for an Israeli/Palestinian peace initiative.
Finally there is material relevant to my work in the Senate where as one of the founders of the Foreign Affairs Committee with Michael D. Higgins TD I continue to play a significant role in this area. Also included are the records of some turbulent times in particular my battle with the late Sean Doherty when he was Cathaoirleach. This resulted in another court case where I was once more victoriously represented by Mary Robinson.
One man show to raise funds for a peace initiative
For as long as I can remember the Middle East has been a centre of tragic conflict. It is a part of the world whose various countries and peoples I have come to know and love over nearly forty years. For more than thirty years I have been friendly with an Israeli Jewish man Ezra Yizhak Nawi (www.citizennawi.com) who has a small plumbing business in Jerusalem. I very much admire the work he does putting his life at risk every day of the week to reach out the hand of friendship to his neighbours the Palestinian subsistence farmers in the villages around South Hebron.
They are constantly under attack from viciously aggressive settlers few of whom are like Ezra native born Israelis. Many of them indeed are fanatics from the US, South Africa, Britain or Russia. They kill Palestinian subsistence farmer’s animals, threaten their children, try to stop them going to school, poison their wells etc. Even though this is land occupied illegally under international law the Israeli authorities frustrate attempts to provide basic services to Palestinians using bogus planning regulations. I may stress that the Palestinian farmers and their families are completely apolitical.
I was asked by Ezra to perform my one man show in the Khan Theatre in Jerusalem to help raise money for these projects, providing clean water, electricity, extending a school and equipping a rudimentary clinic. However whatever his qualities as a human rights activist and a plumber Ezra just didn’t have it to be a show biz impresario!! And so I had to go into operation on my own here in Dublin. I secured Clontarf Castle thanks to the generosity of the management, the only cost being the over flow car park the last of which was graciously covered by Qpark Clerys Carpark in Marlsborough Street. I was also lucky to have the energetic assistance of my good friend and neighbour Eddie Kenny of the Cobalt Café in North Great Georges Street who got posters, fliers and programmes out and secured advertisements from a number of city centre and Clontarf based firms. We also received some generous donations from anonymous individuals and on top of this a small art auction was planned and prints and original works of art were gathered from old friends such as Louis LeBrocquy, Anne Madden, Patrick Collins, Aidan Bradley, Mick O’Dea, Michael Iverson, Mike Fitzharris.
It was a pretty vast undertaking particularly without a support network and I was thrilled by the generosity of the Irish people. I am delighted to tell you that the final figure is just 55,000 Euros. About half of this has already been made available to these projects through Rabbis for Human Rights and Ta’ayush in Jerusalem. The accompanying photographs show the eco friendly installations and the happy recipients.
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