Irish consultation on Referendums on Family, Care and Gender Equality - urgent! Deadline 19 May

[AinmÁlainn]

https://www.gov.ie/en/consultation/a2e11-referendums-on-family-care-and-gender-equality-request-for-submissions/#

@Camillasfagwrinkles Kindly posted this on Craicnet where I came across it for the first time. If anyone is interested in contributing, link is above, deadline 12 noon on Friday 19 May.

https://gript.ie/why-you-should-reply-to-the-public-consultation-on-equality/ Article that may be useful if (like me) you're struggling to gather your thoughts quickly.

I'm thinking of sending this....

I am opposed to the proposed amendment of the Constitution to include a reference to 'gender equality'.

Article 40 of the Constitution states "All citizens shall, as human persons, be held equal before the law."

This is a simple, clear and unambiguous statement. The Constitution already protects all citizens equally. No one is excluded or discriminated against in the Constitution and thus the establishment of a specific category of person by reference to 'gender' is unnecessary and superfluous.

Gender ideology, which says that a person’s ‘gender’ can differ from their biological sex, is a belief. It is not based in science. It is an unproven theory. In a democratic society where there are many different beliefs, the law must be based on incontrovertible facts and not on any one minority belief system. Gender ideology has no place in our constitution.

I am concerned about the potential consequences of the proposed inclusion of gender ideology in our constitution, in particular the potential for the further erosion of women's sex-based rights, the right to single sex spaces, and also the threat to the safeguarding of children who may be particularly vulnerable to the influence of gender ideology.

I cant believe this is true - but if so scandalous behaviour by Irish Government.

By sneaking in Self ID on the back of the Marriage Equality bill, the Irish government tarnished that important vote. Don’t let them do their dirty deeds in the dark again.
https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/pulling-another-fast-one

Not saying its better, but Glinner link also has draft letter for inspiration.

But also important to get this deadline information out.

Unless there is a way to challenge the consultation not being properly advertised.

I have sent my objections. Ffs

@SealHouse ,my submission was similar.

Thanks for sharing, email sent.

I find these consultations so frustrating, the Government pretends to take them into account if they get the responses they want and then ignores them if they don't. Its so disrespectful of peoples time and opinions, don't have a consultation if you don't want to hear contrary opinions

They're supposed to have the wording of this referendum out by next month to the electoral commission and the Government are supposed to already have agreed it mid-May according to their own timetable. https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/534bb-taoiseach-and-minister-ogorman-announce-holding-of-referendum-on-gender-equality/

I've objected.

Thank you very much for highlighting this,

I have just sent a version of SealHouse's wording.

Maybe post a link to this on
Craicnet?

If there is a referendum, I think it'll be very interesting - the era of no debate, which was their most successful tactic - ended by their own hubris.

What I would like to see them explain is why gender equality is constitutionally relevant but sex equality isn't.

I also used this wording and I forwarded the email to
all of my GC friends and urged them to resend. Perhaps we could all do this? We have an hour left.

But if they hold the referendum and they lose because they've been forced to explain themselves contrary to the advice in Denton's, isn't that better for everyone?

I have done this also

Sorry meant to quotes Annasgirl there re sending to my gc friends!

My thinking is they are going to hold the referendum anyway - there won't be enough opposition submissions not to, particularly with the lack of awareness around the deadline.
By objecting, it will be on record and they'll have to debate in public which hopefully will lead to it not being passed.
Maybe wishful thinking!

Thanks for sharing, have sent email

Email sent.

This is just for them to include the trans element in there.
Am I also correct in saying that for the marriage referendum they snuck in the trans element that anyone could change their gender?

I posted this quotation from the Taoiseach on Craicnet a while ago:

“All citizens are equal before the law, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, social class or anything else and we believe that by elevating any particular category, for example, that of sex-based discrimination, it could unwittingly downgrade others, such as those relating to disability, race or ethnicity for example,” (my underlining)

Sex-based discrimination was written out of Irish legislation when the word 'sex', which was clearly defined, was replaced by 'gender', which they never got around to defining, and which includes self ID.
Sex-based discrimination was not just downgraded, but entirely removed from equality legislation.
So giving women the same legal protection as other groups is seen as 'downgrading' other rights.. but there's only one group whose rights would be 'downgraded' by sex-based equality legislation, isn't there?!

That is such a shocking statement. I didn't see it the last time you posted it - was it challenged at the time? I take it this was Taoiseach Leo not Taoiseach Micheal (not because I think M is sounder on women's rights, but I think he might be a too cute to say it out loud).

Despising women has always been an acceptable fallback position in Irish 'public leadership', but abolishing us for all legal purposes has taken it to a whole new level. Pity they chose Albert instead of Mary O'Rourke all those years ago. Though maybe not for Northern Ireland.

Thinking about it, the change in the law happened when Katherine Zappone was still riding high, didn't it? Utterly toxic individual. Speaking of despising the lower orders, women and men.

Sorry for not giving a source for the quotation from An Taoiseach, the current one, Leo Varadkar. (I have a sneaking suspicion that Tánaiste Micheál Martin knows that this gender mullarky is baseless, and wouid say so if he thought there were votes in it.). Here it is; I'm pretty sure the statement was made on 6th December, but I don't know whether it was in a speech or a statement.
https://www.thejournal.ie/women-in-the-home-referendum-9-6240724-Dec2023/

I too was hoping that somebody with influence and a legal/constitutional background would pick up on the Taoiseach's suggestion that, alone amongst the Protected Characteristics in Irish equality legislation, sex-based rights would downgrade all the other rights.
It's reminiscent of David Lammy accusing women of 'hoarding' rights.

Not quite right. The marriage referendum had absolutely nothing to do with trans but when they legislated for same sex marriage, they also legislated for legal self-id of sex. So they used a massively popular piece of legislation as cover to sneak in self-ID.

The dishonesty of comparing discrimination on the grounds of any of the other things to that based on sex is so dishonest. Disability is rooted in medical / physical issues and money well spent will enable people with disabilities to function to their full potential. We have a long way to go on that - as with everything, capital expenditure is easy, paying people is the challenge. The problem for disabled people is less social discrimination that the government failing to put money where its mouth is.

All the other things are spectrums and socially constructed - including race, though race defined around skin colour, or race defined as being a Traveller, are certainly still areas where the intolerant can make life hard for people.

But sex is sex is sex. Not a spectrum, not something anyone can opt out of, and a world where 'male' is seen as synonymous with 'human', and women as varying from the norm throws up many problems. Disabled, working class, same-sex attracted, Traveller, minority race women have an extra challenge compared withd, w-c, s s-a, T, m r men, because of their sex. Indeed, d, w-c, s s-a, T, m r men may be among the people putting obstacles in their way because they are women.

And so it has been for centuries. God, Varadkar hates women, doesn't he?

Leo doesn't even hide his hatred of women. I don't know how his maternal family tolerated him at his grandmother's funeral after what he allowed to happen.