...I took the case to Strasbourg in 1976 which went on until 1981 at the European Court of Human Rights...We were successful. It was under my name but a whole lot of people were involved, fundraising and so on. I was justified. That case was a precedent throughout Europe and has even been quoted in the American Supreme Court. It was the first case, it modernised the law and its view on same sex relationships.
― Jeff Dudgeon talking about Dudgeon v. United Kingdom during an interview.
Jeffrey Edward Anthony Dudgeon MBE is a Northern Irish historian, politician and activist from Belfast. He is a member of the Ulster Unionist Party. In 1979 he stood as a Labour Integrationist candidate for Belfast South in the 1979 General election.
Dudgeon is best remembered for bringing a case, Dudgeon v. United Kingdom, against the government of Northern Ireland in the European Court of Human Rights after he was detained by the Royal Ulster Constabulary when they discovered he was gay. This set the precedent for a similar case being brought against the Republic of Ireland in the 1980s.
Dudgeon was represented in the case by three lawyers; Lord Anthony Gifford, Terry Munyard and Paul Crane. The hearing took place in April 1981, before a panel of nineteen judges. The verdict was returned on October 22 1981, with the court ruling that the law banning male homosexuality (female homosexuality was not a crime) was a violation of Dudgeon's human rights.
The Dudgeon v. United Kingdom ruling has since been cited in many similar cases around the world, including one in the American Supreme Court that struck down sodomy laws in seventeen states. It was also the basis for the Council of Europe's decision that no member state was allowed to make homosexuality a crime.
In 2012, Dudgeon was awarded an MBE for "services to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community in Northern Ireland".