Ok, I wrote this whole post with the Examiner letting me read articles. They’re now all paywalled. I don’t want to delete it - hopefully it will still serve as a wee update on things in Ireland (I’d thought someone was going to start a thread for that but I couldn’t find it, I’m sorry it I’ve missed it); & if anyone’s an Examiner subscription they can obviously read the articles if they’ve missed them/perhaps share any key points they think are important? Feck knows what was going on with the paywall situation though.
☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️
…or, er, something?
I’m not sure what else the Taoiseach can mean, really, talking about “imported” culture wars in this article from June. He clearly doesn’t think you’re having these ideas all by your [wee] selves. Is he after thinking those of us with dual citizenship have come sneaking in & are stirring things up?
Interesting article though, with the whole “there was absolute transparency & we practically asked every single woman on the island of Ireland if she was ok with it & if they don’t remember now that’s probably their hormones” (I paraphrase) stance.
The Examiner had the option not to include this spectacularly awful quote from Alan Edge (a South Dublin independent councillor, who’s also campaign officer for the Ban Conversion Practices Campaign) in their article on conversion therapy last month, but apparently they thought this was a reasonable & appropriate thing for someone to say & them to print:
[When discussing conversion therapy] He draws an analogy with female genital mutilation "which seems barbaric to many people" and happens within a religious context.
To be clear, obviously conversion therapy is not in any way ok, & it can involve so-called “corrective” rape; but to not only select this particular comparator but also somehow manage to minimise the horror of it AND be racist is appalling. Yes, it’s an issue a white man went for “barbaric” when describing something done by & to black & brown people (I say people as apparently there have been cases of male doctors performing FGM) because that word’s absolutely been used - or rather abused - to denigrate them for centuries. Good to see Ireland following the UK’s lead on “we must stop this dreadful thing that we have no actual data on”. In fairness at least Ireland do seem to be trying to do some research; however, they’re clearly actively trying to hunt out people. And possibly seeking to legislate based on the experiences of people in the UK - sounding as if you actively hope people have undergone conversion therapy in the country that borders yours so you can use their trauma to push for legislative change in your country doesn’t really give the best impression. Would be interesting to know how your one would separate out conversion therapy for [supposed] homosexuality & conversion therapy for being transgender. The data the UK was working from didn’t separate out the two so part of the problem with the proposed legislation (as well as forcing psych professionals into affirmation only care for individuals exploring a trans identity) was it was potentially banning something that had never happened. (I’m not saying I disbelieve any trans person who says they’ve experienced it; I’m talking strictly about the data that was available - the failure to do actual research for the Bill was frankly deplorable; & the result of the government being determined to force through the legislation ahead of the conference they ended up having to cancel because it collapsed after Stonewall withdrew after the u-turns on banning conversion therapy).
It doesn’t seem to have occurred to Saoirse Mackin that Irish women probably aren’t too worried about their risk of encountering a Republican Congressman - or indeed any US politician - in the loo, so it doesn’t matter if they’re statistically more dangerous than trans women are. It’s not “demonising” them to report on crimes committed by them, including assaults in public conveniences. It is not unreasonable of women to want said facilities to be sex-segregated for their safety. The only acceptable number of assaults on women & girls is zero.
The Tánaiste wants IRFU to listen to the players they’ve “banned” 🙄 Holy Mother of God they’ve done nothing BUT listen! It was all the listening that caused this mess! And it’s not they’ve stopped listening, just they’ve stopped doing what those players & the TRAs are wanting.
On the plus side, The Examiner let Alison O’Connor express heretical views (& some good news) 😊