Thread November 10th 2021

The deadline for submissions to the Consultation on the draft State report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has been extended to Friday 12th. It includes the extension of legal "gender recognition" to under 16s which was rejected by the Government when proposed/                                    

Is “gender recognition” for under 16s in the interests of children?
“Gender recognition” for children “of any age” was rejected by the Government just two years ago but reappeared in the Programme for Government last year. Who has been seeking this and why?
Women’s Space IrelandWomen's Space Ireland

by the Gender Recognition Act Review Group in 2018. It was chaired by Moninne Griffith of BeLonG To and included the chair of TENI, a member of IndividualiTy, and a former director and a legal consultant to TENI. Why were no other voices included?                                                                                

These were the first four members, to see the full list go to: https://www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/69543/0eadce5530df4a558500887e6fa70c2f.pdf#page=1

Despite being rejected by the Government this proposal was accepted by the LGBT committee in Fine Gael and managed to get added to the Programme for Government.                                                                                              

All the evidence indicates that it's an extremely harmful proposal to encourage children to "socially transition", which a legal change of gender clearly is.  Allowing activist groups to formulate public policy based on gender identity ideology is not only inappropriate but/                                                      

https://www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/200748/88b32f2e-29a7-4f0c-9130-3f7d5c6274c3.pdf#page=null

in this case risks pushing children towards medical treatment for life through puberty blockers, cross sex hormones and eventual surgery.  Why is a Department for Children @dcediy even considering this instead of safeguarding the health and well-being of children in Ireland?                            

https://will-law.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/affidavit-stephen-levine-with-exhibit.pdf

Please send your views by email on what you think of the Government's proposals to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child https://tinyurl.com/73vtf4ny  

This is far too short a time to allow the public to give their views on providing "gender recognition" to under 16s. Risking harm to children is surely no part of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.