Irish Central reports on and speaks with gay current frontrunner for President of Ireland in November, David Norris:
"To date seasoned political observers in Ireland have been divided over the nature of Norris' appeal, but it's becoming clear the professorial figure with the clipped tones and an Anglo Irish background is somehow striking a populist note that appears to be resonating with the public. Perhaps it's because the Irish tend to love a man or woman who takes on the Establishment and wins. It may not matter to them that Norris' landmark victory helped deliver equal rights for gays in Ireland: what matters is that he won."
They note that, like America, it has become politically inexpedient to be openly homophobic: "Some implacably opposed critics have found themselves reduced to describing Norris with code words like 'flamboyant,' or 'unrepresentative' and even 'alien.'
Says Norris: “I think that in some ways I represent the diversity of modern Ireland. When I was young man it was assumed that everyone was a white heterosexual Roman Catholic. They weren't, but that's what it looked like. Now we have this wonderful vibrant community of different interests and diversity and I think my election will copper fasten the message that in Ireland we are a vibrant community that values it.”
