Irish Minister for children appears to be mates with Peter Tatchell

[ShiveringCoyote]

Roderic O Gorman has a tweet from 2018 showing him looking very happy to be with PT at Dublin Pride. I am writing to my local TD as well as opposition Party members to question his support of such a person.
Any Irish person want to follow suit?

I don't really use SM, the way I heard about this was through friends and colleagues getting in touch. Normal people, many of whom would have voted for the Greens. Some of whom had previously heard of the controversy surrounding PT through their line of work.

I read his statement today and thought it said nothing of substance. I saw a newspaper article in which he talked about how upset his parents would be by all of this. He can appreciate how a scandal would affect the parents of a 30 something year old man but not why parents of young children would seek clarification on ANYONE's connection with someone who has a controversial past when it comes to views on paedophilia.

An immediate statement would have garnered some trust. But I get the impression that the opinion of the common folk matters little.

I'm wary and going forward, I'll be keeping an eye on hate crime legislation, the age of consent and the programme of RSE the new department advocates for. Is there anything else to be aware of?

@ReiltinDubh

There are some very offensive things flying around fb about him. Genuine concerns are lost in all of that.

Absolutely agree Reiltin. There are some awful things being said about the man; he appears to have made a mistake. Some of what is being thrown around about him is libellous, and veers into paedophile hunting and some homophobia.

There are a lot of very worried parents around at the moment, and this is a lightning rod for that anxiety.
Good leadership would understand this, and be on top of the issue.

ROG has had a lot of character references online in the last few days. Great.

But, abusers are master manipulators.

For professionals working with children, collusion is the one theme that is always referenced.
We have to be so careful that we are not drawn into the warped world view of abusive people (and I am talking about DV, paedphilia, financial abuse, bullies etc.)
cf the abuse of the little girls in the Traveller family in Tipperary.

In his position, he should be very very aware of this.
And, he has not 'got in front of' this story. Possibly due to political naiveté.

m.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/new-childrens-minister-to-make-it-easier-for-under-16s-to-change-their-gender-39346464.html

This article is behind a paywall unfortunately, I haven't come across it in any other publication as of yet.
Hopefully it's a light shining on what the new governments intention is in relation to transing children. I doubt the majority of people would have delved into the PfG to find it there.

Whyou am I not surprised?

Why not whyou

Stella O'Malley was on Newstalk breakfast this morning discussing the proposed change. She was good. Clear

www.newstalk.com/podcasts/highlights-from-newstalk-breakfast/plans-change-transition-process-transgender-teens

Well worth a listen.

His strengths statement is an absolute disgrace.

Strengths not supposed to be in there.

Homophobic? Roderic O' Gorman is a fool, to claim that.

Reasonable questions about safeguarding, are being asked, by concerned people, many of whom also happen to be Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual.

It's still allowed Roderic. No one takes an oath, to look the other way because it's you.

We are not concerned about being gay, get over yourself.

It's the company you appear to keep, and his beliefs.

Rightly so, especially, when you make excuses for him, without evidence of a bit of critical thinking, given your responsibilities.

That's an excellent interview by Stella O'Malley. Very balanced and full of common sense. She asked a very good question :WHY would anyone want to legally allow under 16's to transition -it just doesn't make any sense.

If it was purely homophobia then why was there not a similar furor when Katherine Zappone was previously appointed to the post?

I think he's a smart man but his statement was not great, you couldn't know who Peter Tatchell is without knowing about what he defended previously, I think not just O'Gorman but the whole Green party need to answer why they allowed him to walk with them (presumably was invited) at pride.

Given how many single sex schools there are in Ireland I think that allowing an under 16 to change gender will lead to a lot of lawsuits. They need to expressly clarify what this will mean for single sex spaces before they do this.
Given what Ireland's chief expert Dr. O'Shea has said about the medical pathway that these children are put on, I hope any discussion regarding changing this law involves him and that this whole thing takes place after the Keira Bell case.

www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/q-and-a-consultants-fear-starting-transition-too-quickly-can-be-disastrous-38920160.html
www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/doctors-in-row-with-hse-over-claims-childrens-transgender-care-is-unsafe-38920159.html

Hopefully, common sense will prevail and this will be opposed. However I do find there is a huge lack of awareness about these issues by most people so I wouldn't be surprised if it became legal. With all the environmental issues that the Green party needed to focus on this should not have been a priority for them.

I totally agree classicspring

When you think the Greens are going to have to convince rural dwellers to come on.boatd with them. The D6 crew are a given. But the farmers will the ones impacted by measures such as reducing fossil fuels, for things like hedgerow and bog preservation, lowering pesticide use, animal welfare, biodiversity - all these will be met with anger from farmers amd rural dwellers on whom the changes impact the most. Then to turn around and parrot anti - science twaw soundbites, which people know isnt true, and expect their environmental science to be respected. No. An absolute fool move, which I hope Ryan can recognise.

God knows we need a Green movement with plenty of popular support behind it, if anything is going to get done.

Self ID, and the replacing of sex with gender in our equality legislation may have been quietly introduced into Ireland while none of us noticed.

We can't stand by and allow the same to happen again.I've been quietly taking to friends over the last while. None of them agree with self ID or transing children.

It's like Stella O'Malley said in that interview- they are just looking for woke points.

Brilliant points classicspring and 7days
They will have no credibility throughout the country. I feel so let down by them myself!

So do I.
I'm a rural dweller. The Greens are so needed but so out of touch with anywhere outside of bloody Rathgar. But all city dwellers have to do is sort their rubbish and hop on the Luas. Country people have no Luas. We dont even have a brown bin collection. That wont save us - getting the farmers on board has some chance of making a difference.

And yes. I've just started a new ps job. We are all subtlety dancing around each other because we HAVE to be ultra careful. But I've had one or two conversations with women aged 31 to 55. We are sympathetic to the struggles trans people face but cant accept transing kids. One particular hot button item was elderly ladies in care homes needing personal care. One woman has a teen daughter whose friend socially transitioned but desisted in college. Not impressed with the notion of rushing confused teens on rather than giving them the chance to get to know themselves a bit more. But she said,in fairness the school was very good with a Take Things Slow attitude, to the kid herself, the parents and the classmates. So that is a good news story.

Theres a mid 20's gay lad at work too. Haven't had a direct convo with him but he seems to give histrionics of all sorts the big roll eye and does know the difference between men and women, as do his mates by the way he talks.

I know we need green policies but I wish it was someone other than the Greens that were delivering them. Was just reading this piece about their election for party leader and Ryan seems just as out of touch as he did when he was talking about growing salad on window sills to combat food insecurity

"Ryan said he is as “Dub as Dub can be”, and he doesn’t believe in a rural and urban divide.
Ryan promised to get out of Dublin before the end of July, to travel to Cork to see how the government can deliver the proposed Bus Connects project there. " www.thejournal.ie/green-party-hustings-5144058-Jul2020/

Well Eamonn can swivel because here in the West we absolutely do see the urban rural divide.

I bet in Darndale they see the class divide.
On halting sites they see the traveller/settled divide.

I bloody hate the way idpol is playing out right now, but that's not to say different groups of people dont have different concerns and viewpoints.

A generous reading of his comments might say that he is trying to avoid all that division stuff in favour of a properly inclusive narrative, where we are all United in the face of a greater threat.

(Maybe if aliens landed and pointed their ray guns at the ice caps all of humanity would pull together as one. It will probably take something like that .

.....But 2020 isnt over yet)

Rural Ireland is - largely - happy with the way things are, insert disclaimers here, of course. But it's fairly cohesive and (small c) conservative - because in their view theres a lot of good stuff to conserve.
The Greens want to shake things up and make us all swallow some bitter medicine.

Ok, most people will take a couple of spoons.

But they better not waste their chances on a policy that:
-most people think is anti-science. Everyone knows the difference between Male and female anyway, but imagine a farmer who doesnt know how lambs are born!

• keeps parents out of the loop when their kids are going through some sort of crisis. Cant be done in rural Ireland anyway. Too many connections. It will only ruin the trust with schools and parents.

• doesnt allow for that awkward age where teens change and develop so much that they kill you out of embarrassment when you reference that band or look or lad they were mad for 6 months ago.

A 16 or 17 year old who id as trans will either grow out of it, or grow into it. Either way, a couple of years grace, carefully managed, won't do any harm. They have to wait before they drink or smoke or drive or vote or move out. And a lot of teens like the excuse of dinosaur parents when they are trying to buy time - gives them an out while they process things in their own mind.

I really think the Greens have to consider carefully what their remit is.

I don't believe in witch hunting people.

I do think that Peter Tatchell's foray into really awful ideas in the 70s, should teach us a lesson about why safeguarding, full and free discussion, and caution are absolutely essential when any kind of radical social change is being discussed, ESPECIALLY stuff that involves children in any way.

The whole "Chesterton's Wall" idea.

That has ramifications for the whole trans thing.

Chesterton's Fence, sorry! Not wall.

Reading the articles above, there are already concerns being raised by consultants about the now adults that received treatment at ages 16 to 18. Clearly the cracks are already emerging which will hopefully be a wake up call.
You would have to wonder why the HSE would not suspend this policy considering the concerns raised by medical experts. The fact that the minutes of the meeting were changed appears sinister.
I would agree that the Greens will have a hard time pushing through a lot of environmental policy. I also live in a rural area and cannot think of anyone I know that would agree with the extreme trans ideology that is emerging. However the Greens were not in power when the GRA was passed in 2015 and when it was made easier for 16 to 18 years old teens to transition. So clearly they are not the only party that believes in this ideology.

What is disingenuous is O Gorman's and others reference solely to the infamous edited guardian letter, and yet Tatchell has been vocal in this area since the 70s up to present. As others in this thread have said, he has associations with the Paedophile Information Exchange, having written Colin Dunns obituary. I cant find where I read it but several of the coauthors of the book BOY had subsequently been charged with paedophilia and possession of images. Tatchell is a smart man, attempting to place an academic veneer around the discussion of paedophilia and plays with semantics. O Gorman was either arrogant or incredibly naïve in his adulation.

found the reference, it appears many of the contributors to the book Betrayal Of Youth were subsequently convicted.

ianpace.wordpress.com/2014/07/05/betrayal-of-youth-1986-including-the-contributions-of-middleton-owens-faust-tatchell/

PT was interviewed on Irish radio last night and said children are not the property of their parents. No shit sherlock - We don't view them as property.

What is the obsession with trying to separate children from their parents? I am starting to despair at how this thinking is taking hold.

I wonder how the government/MSM will spin this one? What - ism will be thrown at parents who mention it?