Some people, however, do have opinions for various reasons. Like what I suspect is the vast majority of people, I don’t have strong opinions around gender issues, apart from wishing well anybody in how they live as long as it doesn’t impact negatively on anybody else. Or that medical or mental health specialists cannot give any opinion on the matter that doesn’t conform to the prevailing orthodoxy.ĭublin Pride Parade 2019. This would infer, for instance, that nobody in sport should discuss whether or not it is fair that a transwoman competes in exclusively female competitions. The premise for shutting down debate, as best can be determined, is that any discussion in this area is concerned with negating or removing the rights of transgender people. Now, an Oireachtas committee is getting with the programme, demanding that RTÉ comes in and explain where it all went wrong. Online, Twitter was ablaze with comments from people who claimed that Liveline was facilitating an entry into the country for right-wing elements who want to deliver us into fascism. Joe Duffy read out a complaint from the ICCL about the programmes, but nobody from the ICCL wanted to come on and explain whose civil liberties were being infringed. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties apparently believes so. In Ireland, it is almost a case of you must subscribe to this theory.” "To me, it is the equivalent of heretics or infidels of the past. They will not raise their heads above the parapet and will not question … even having the conversation can be considered to be transphobic or hate or causing harm … it is a way of silencing people who have different opinions.
I know of so many people who are afraid to speak about this.
“The debate is shut down,” said Ms Colfer. She also noted that the theory was considered in some quarters to be, well, Gospel. Then there was a lecturer from Waterford, Colette Colfer, who spoke cogently about gender identity theory and suggested there are parallels with a belief system as it applies to religion. One person spoke movingly about how it wasn’t until later in life that they were in a position to transition.Īnd there was discussion around 'safe spaces' for women and various problems that some contributors have with aspects of what appears to be a strict orthodoxy around gender identity. There were also contributions from transgender people who gave a flavour of the challenges they face. The three Liveline programmes referenced dealt with aspects of gender identity, language in this area, and related issues concerning women in sport and women in prison.Īmong the contributors were women from an organisation who have strong feelings about language in contexts in which “person” has been substituted for “woman” and “mother”.Ī man involved in soccer spoke of how his club does all it can to facilitate transgender people in teams. 8yfu1rIiQt- Dublin LGBTQ+ Pride June 14, 2022Īre the organisers of Dublin Pride suggesting that the majority of people in this country consider any discussion on transgender issues to be indecent, and those who engage in it hate-filled and transphobic?Īnybody with any interest in this matter should listen back. We are the majority shareholders in RTÉ, and we have a right to hold it accountable for its actions.”ĭublin LGBTQ+ Pride's statement on termination of media partnership with RTÉ.
LGBTQ+ people and our allies make up the majority of people in Ireland. Then the organisers said this in a tweet: “RTÉ is our national broadcaster. Substitute “bishops” for “organisers” and that last sentence could well have been written 50 years ago by the Catholic Press Office following an edition of The Late, Late Show discussing the lives of same-sex couples. Dublin Pride was severing its media partnership links with RTÉ following the airing of three consecutive editions of Liveline featuring transgender issues. The organisers said they were both “angered and disappointed” that these discussions had been “given a platform”.