For a while, the great gay hope David Norris looked on his way to becoming the world’s first openly gay head of state as Ireland’s first openly gay president. But even though he was the front runner and seeming winner, he just withdrew from the race after news surfaced of a letter he wrote in 1998 asking Israeli authorities to provide clemency for an ex-lover convicted of statutory rape with a 15-year-old Palestinian boy. Awww, crap.
Of the letter and his dropping from the race, today Norris said:
“The fallout from his disgraceful behaviour has now spread to me and is in danger of contaminating others close to me both in political and personal life.
“It is essential that I act decisively now to halt this negative process. I do not regret supporting and seeking clemency for a friend, but I do regret giving the impression that I did not have sufficient compassion for the victim of Ezra’s crime.
“I accept that more than a decade and a half later when I have now reviewed the issue, and am not emotionally involved, when I am not afraid that Ezra might take his own life, I see that I was wrong. He served his time and never offended again.
“Yes, his actions were terrible, but my motivation to write the letter was out of love and concern. I was eager to support someone who has been very important and continues to be important in my life.
“It is very sad that in trying to help a person I loved dearly, I made a human error.”
Earlier this year Norris’ presidential run hit another snag when a journalist uncovered a 2002 interview where he said, “in terms of classic pedophilia, as practiced by the Greeks, for example, where it is an elder man introducing a younger man to adult life, there can be something said for it.”
So make a mental note of that. If you ever want to become the world’s first openly gay head of state, avoid making cases for sex with kids.
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Schwarzestiefel
I thought the first openly gay head of state was the woman who was Iceland’s prime minister?
cybernoelie
I try not to use bad language on the internet but: Queerty what the fuck are you talking about?
Is this what you call reporting a news story?
Firstly, David Norris never promoted pedophilia – that story was exposed as false and Senator Norris was able to challenge his detractors and win – he defended pederasty which is a completely different thing…and…he defended it within the context of his own life where he was a lonely young gay man in a society that treated homosexuals with contempt and within which being gay was a crime (in fact it was Senator Norris who took the Irish government all the way to the EU courts to have homosexuality decriminalized).
Senator Norris said that he personally would have been grateful to have an older gay man take him under his wing and teach him about life as a gay man – at no point did Senator Norris propose or condone pedophilia, in fact Senator Norris has an unparalleled track record of defending human rights and the rights of children all over the world.
As for this current situation the case David got involved in concerned statutory rape whereas other politicians in Ireland intervened in cases of violent child rapes and murders. The Nawi case was exceptional because Nawi was set up in a honeytrap sting, the family were threatened to prosecute (5 yrs later), the Israeli judge openly discriminated against Nawi for being gay and refused expert witness testimony and essential evidence but allowed questionable evidence and on top of all that Nawi was threatened that if he didn’t plead guilty then the boy’s name would be made public. Nawi pled guilty to protect the boy plus he was given extremely bad legal advice encouraging him to plead guilty (or else suffer a huge trial, much publicity and a lengthy sentence) so the actual details of what really happened between them was never made public.
Since then Nawi has been framed several more times. In one case a petition with 20,000 signatures was given to the court in his support. In another instance in 2007 Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein and many others wrote character references for him (why would these people give a pedophile a character reference?) and in 2009 he received so many thousands of character references the court couldn’t cope.
Senator David Norris had been in a long-term on/off relationship with Ezra Nawi and was besotted with him. He was worried that Nawi would attempt suicide in prison and he was worried for his safety in an Israeli prison. Since then the Irish Senate has actually come to the defence of Nawi and formally intervened in another fabricated case against him in 2007/2009.
There was a serious and deliberate attempt to deny Senator David Norris run for the presidency and bullshit, emotive, factually incorrect ‘reporting’ devoid of truth and balance like yours is disgusting and disgraceful (apart from being defamatory and libellous).
Fuckwits!
Daniel Villarreal
@Schwarzestiefel: Cripes. I am sucking butt today (in a bad way). You’re absolutely right. That’s what I get for trusting PinkNews 😛 We have deleted that line. Plus here’s some love for Johanna Sigurdardottir, the actual world’s first openly gay head of state. Thanks!
Ted C.
Johanna Sigurdardottir is not Iceland’s Head of State. She’s their Prime Minister. Iceland’s Head of State is President Olafur Grimsson.
It’s like Britain, where the Head of State is Queen Elizabeth, but their Prime Minister is David Cameron.
Ted C.
@Daniel Villarreal: I see you had the same confusion about Head of State vs Head of Government in your original article about Johanna Sigurdardottir.
Lots of countries have both a President and a Prime Minister (Ireland, France, Italy, Iceland, to name just a few). You should learn what the difference is.
Fagburn
The smear campaign this time round was started by a right-wing Zionist blogger who says; “My main problem with Norris in recent times has been his outspoken criticism of Israel…”
http://www.fagburn.com/2011/07/david-norris-virtually-ruined.html
Elly
Norris’ comments on paedophilia need to be taken in the context of a country reeling from reports of the churchs abuse. This whole thing has touched a very raw nerve. Norris has done a huge disservice to his community allowing and feeding the old cliche of linking gay people to paedophilia. Not only that, he didn’t just write a letter to an Israeli court trying to free a convicted statutory rapist, he used headed state paper to do it. I am grateful for all the work Norris has done re legalizing homosexuality here, but I am glad he isn’t running for president.
Schwarzestiefel
Oh well then, if it’s gay head of state and not prime minister, then there are hundreds of them probably, every European royal house has had gay monarchs like Alexander the Great, Edward II and James I of England , King Frederick of Prussia, and King Ludwig of Bavaria. And then there was the Chinese Emperor, of the Cut Sleeve Story.
catinhat
All I can say is, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Why is he defending and continues to defend an ex-lover from years ago? And as for the claim that the person has never offended again – how does he know this? That would be highly unusual for a sexual predator.
holla
Just to echo the issue that Iceland’s prime minister is not the head of state. This is not the first time queerty has made this mistake, and despite several people pointing this out above, they have not changed the line. Had Norris been elected president he would, indeed, have been the first openly gay head of state. As someone else said above, many, many countries have an important distinction between the head of state (usually largely ceremonial) and the head of government, including Canada, the UK, Israel, and yes, Iceland.
John
Fuck Me Im Irish