David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Chairman is most kind. I am doing very well and am very happy to be back, and to be a nuisance.

This committee and the Seanad have passed resolutions on violence against women in conflict in the Congo, for example, and so on. I am familiar with Resolution 1325. However, I find myself increasingly irritated by the phrase "gender-based violence" because it is far too narrow, especially in sub-Sahara Africa and such places. Gay people are the most immediate target and young men and boys are consistently raped, whether they are gay or not. Then there is the appalling situation in places such as Uganda and a majority of sub-Saharan African countries where homosexuality is still a criminal offence. Regrettably, very vulnerable people are being made political scapegoats. It is not a revulsion or an understanding of gay people; it is just that they are convenient. They are as convenient as the Jews were in Germany. The shocking aspect is that they are being assisted, and there is strong collaboration, between the main Christian churches and they should be denounced for that. If there is any central control in those churches they should be firmly told that. Why do we not say that to the Papal Nuncio, Monsignor Brown? That is a political office. We should tell him we are not having that. We are not having pronouncements from the Vatican any more. We have a good Pope. He has been marvellous so far with the poor. I hope he will learn a bit about gay people but it is not appropriate for a state, and the Vatican purports to be a state, to give support or even half-hearted objections to vicious regimes.

When taking gender-based violence into account it should be extended. We should have the courage to say the most vulnerable people now include gay people who are the bottom of the pile and people like David Kato who I met in Dublin Castle with the Front Line Defenders who are wonderful. We can be so proud of the organisation Mary Lawlor set up but within six months of that, David Kato was savagely destroyed as a result of front page headlines in the newspapers identifying him, with the support of the Christian churches. It was truly shocking. I hope that will be included in the witnesses' brief and that they will try to expand it to take in gay people.