Ireland..you could not make this up

That's a good article by Iseult. Well balanced and sums up the situation vey well.
That letter in the second link is also excellent and I hope that as more people read about this then politicians will finally realise that this legislation is not as progressive as they thought it was.

Is anyone in Ireland amazed that there are going to be demonstrations because of Sarah Everard's death (www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/sarah-everard-protest-planned-dublin-20169148) but yet there were no protests when Urantsetseg Tserendorj was stabbed in the neck and died in Dublin in January (www.thejournal.ie/teen-assault-ifsc-5337272-Jan2021/).

Is it the victim or the perpetrator that has made Sarah's death more warranting of a protest than Urantsetseg? Or is it that certain Irish feminists wanted to glom on to the protests that UK feminists had started?

In todays IT, an opinion piece from Iseult White and a letter to the editor about self ID being brought in by stealth

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/transphobic-terf-or-sex-traitor-this-trans-rights-culture-war-must-stop-1.4512119

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/lobbying-for-gender-recognition-1.4512174

I suppose it hasn't entered her head that the issues are the same everywhere, therefore so are the counterarguments.

And yeah, it is not fair to say that 'people knew' about the GRA when it was constantly presented in terms of being about transsexuals. There are plenty of people who knew it had passed in 2015 but didn't know the specific details.

It's one A4-sized form. It's the least complicated bit of form-filling the Irish state offers, for FFS.

@purplepizzabunny I knew who you meant! They've also been vicious on the cervical screening thing. But that's not great as an identifier in these cases because that's... eh... every Irish trans activist.
(And that individual has also worked in a role-model capacity with young people. Dangerous.)

So what if it was brought in in 2015? The Eighth Amendment was brought in in 1983. Unlike the GRA it was voted on and everyone knew about it, but just like the GRA it was still a terrible regressive change.

"It's been law for X number of years"
"Everyone knew about it"
"You only think you have a problem with it because you've been listening to Godless British women"

None of these things are valid counterarguments. None of them deal with the crucial questions:

• Do women deserve the safety and privacy of single sex spaces
• Do women deserve single sex resources
• Do women deserve to be able to name and discuss themselves exclusive of male people

That first letter misses the point that the laws weren't controversial because no-one knew they were being passed.

Mentioning Foy plays to the assumption of most people that trans=significant medical and surgical intervention following psychological and psychiatric investigation. That has little similarity with the current state of play where any randomer can just fill out a form for any reason they see fit.

"While Irish anti-trans campaigners now echo the tactics and rhetoric of their British counterparts, even as they insist that theirs is a homegrown movement,"

Then it is signed by Elizabeth from Liverpool.

Ivory towers

Exactly Cailleach, I remember voting for marriage equality and all the hoo-haa about #HomeToVote .

I do not recall voting for Gender Self-ID.
If you look at the Wiki page (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HomeToVote) there is no mention of self-ID legislation being voted on. [now that I've drawn attention to it, it may be altered by the monitors, so I screenshotted it ].

Sadly, and I do mean very sadly , the first letter is signed by 2 lecturers in Philosophy, who, one would think, would be very familiar with moral relativism. One would think that they would be able to see and hold in mind, 2 opposing view points at the same time, without condemnation of one.

The first letter says this legislation can't have been stealthily introduced - because it was introduced in 2015. First is how, second is when. When doesn't contradict how. So, it was stealthily introduced a while ago and people, especially women because it affects us more, are beginning to see the effects of it. Because it was introduced stealthily in 2015 without a public vote on it.

The second bit just says that women are bad if they stand up for their sex. Just like bad women in Britain; who are also bad 'cos they're British. Imagine being bad 'cos you're a woman and also bad 'cos you're British woman. So Irish women standing up for themselves are inherently anti Irish. Brian in TCD and Elizabeth in Liverpool need to stick to substantive facts rather than implying it is anti Irish for women to defend their rights.

The Irony of this ideology being a US ideology imported via Yogyakarta. Without a public discussion, never mind debate.

Helen's letter is very good.

2 letters in today's IT on the GRA (the sensible one is 2nd).
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/impact-of-gender-recognition-act-1.4511075

It's the one who abuses women for wanting the word 'women' in cervical screening info... wait, that doesn't narrow it down much, does it?

Is it the person we mentioned above or someone else? I just assume they all work for TENI at this stage..

Interesting isn't it? Especially as TENI is already like an employment agency for our most vocal homegrown activists. Jobs for the...

Mermoose I cannot unhear that pronunciation now.

Yes, ironic isn't it, that we GC women are "infected" by contact with those horrible, "anti-trans" Brits.

But, those open-minded, fair and unbigoted people at TENI have an American at the helm. Really? there was not one single Irish trans person who could have taken the job?

Oh it's meant to be Éirinn, isn't it? God. The effort to make it look extra Irishy kind of backfires.

They love their botched Irish names.

Mermoose, it is a totally made up name with random fadas dropped in. It's as recent an acquisition as its bearer's "female identity" - four or five years.

It's also hilariously ironic, for a group of people that have been telling Irish women they can't talk to foreigners, that they had an American there telling Irish journalists what they should and shouldn't say.

Side point that I suppose doesn't really matter but that name - Éirénne - is that actually an Irish name? I've never heard of it and it looks like one of those Irishy names only Americans use, like Colleen, only with fadas sort of scattered in there. How would you even pronounce it? Air-ey-nya?