“I do not have to prove that I am ‘trans enough’ for anyone” December 7, 2012
Posted by Tomboktu in Crazed nonsense..., Human Rights, Inequality, Irish Politics, Justice, LGBT Rights.4 comments
While the country was getting ready for the budget on Wednesday, elsewhere in the Leinster House complex, an Oireachtas committee took evidence on the experience and legal situation of trans people in Ireland.
All of it is worth watching, but I was particularly moved by the evidence of Darrn matthews, from 8:30 into the film:
Darrin Matthews:
Hi. My name is Darrin Matthews. I am a board member of TENI and also run he Cork Peer Trans Support Group.
I am a transgender man.
[...]
I had a woman from the Disability Allowance Office ring me and she wanted to know why my name had changed from a female name to a male name, and when I told her it was because I was transgender, she laughed at me and hung up the phone.
When I go out and I get asked for my passport as identification to get in, I sometimes get turned away because my gender marker still says “F” and I have both my birth certificate name and my current name Darrin printed.
Everybody has a right to a private life. I would just like that my right would be recognized. Issuing new birth certificates and can easily do this and prevent embarrassment and harassment and potentially dangerous situations.
My experience of being transgender doesn’t just affect me, it also affects my family. I have an amazingly supportive and loving family. My mother put herself into almost €12,000 worth of debt so she could send me to a private school because I was bullied for 2 years in my state school. My mother took out a loan to send me to a school where I could be called Darrin, not wear a girl’s uniform and be happy and every member of staff and every student called me Darrin instead of derogatory and cruel names.
I have many friends who are straight, gay and transgender. In this day and age if a gay friend of mine come to me and told me they had gotten their official diagnosis of “homosexual”, I would be shocked and appalled. Nineteen years ago homosexuality was decriminalized and people now cannot imagine a time when homosexuality was illegal. Most people don’t know that transgender people must be diagnosed with a psychiatric illness to access treatment in this country because this is such an inconceivable and ridiculous notion and is discriminatory in its nature.
I do not feel that because I was born in the wrong body that that automatically means I have a mental illness. There is still stigmatization attached to having a mental health issue in this country and to force a psychiatric condition onto another human being can have detrimental effects on a person’s self-image and self-esteem.
When a couple applies for a civil partnership, they are not asked for their gay diagnosis to prove their homosexuality. I had to prove to many people I was happier as the man I should have always been, to my mother, my siblings, to my friends. And I had to prove that I had a psychiatric illness. But I should not have to prove anything to a complete stranger and seek their acceptance. I do not have to prove that I am ‘trans enough’ for anyone.
My mother once asked if I was sure, and if I was really sure that being Darrin was what I wanted. When I told her I couldn’t go go back and be happy, she just said to me ‘Well then we can only go forward, my son’.
I always knew transitioning would never be easy but please don’t make it any harder than it already is. All I want is to be treated as an equal. To be treated with respect and dignity as much as a non-transgender person would be. Nothing more and nothing less. Thank you.
Just to Lower the Tone July 26, 2012
Posted by Garibaldy in Crazed nonsense..., Culture.13 comments
So, as noted by Eamonncork, one of the good things about CLR is its ability to stimulate discussion about interesting cultural matters, whether it’s Gramsci, music, or bits and pieces. However, just to lower the tone, while simultaneously demonstrating that we on the Irish left have our fingers on the pulse of popular culture, I offer this
A peculiar tax break May 2, 2012
Posted by Tomboktu in Crazed nonsense..., Inequality, Taxation Policy.5 comments
The May issue of Alive! was delivered to my house today. I am not happy to see that it is a registered charity. They advertise the fact because
- If you pay PAYE and your total donation to Alive! was €250 or more in 2011 we can reclaim your tax.
Please ask us for a for or Tel 01 4048187 for more info.
- If you are self-assessed or a company and your donation to Aive! was €250 or more in 2011 you can clain tax releief on your donation.
How can an organisation that is so overtly political have been granted charitable status?
The week in disability – three random notes March 16, 2012
Posted by Tomboktu in Crazed nonsense....2 comments
The last week saw me come into contact with disability issues a few times. In among the sadly still-routine points about the need for changes in policy and practice were three WTF moments.
First the mildest WTF moment: at a conference on Thursday, Dr Anne Lodge summarised research that found that academics dismiss the attainments of students in third level who are provided with resaonable disabilities.
Second, I had a meeting with a woman who has a mobility disability. She told me that sometimes when she is asked what happened to her, she pretends that she had an accident. She notices that when she does that, she is treated differently, less patronised, as if she were less disabled, than when she says she has had her disability since birth. [The latter is true].
And then somebody drew my attention to the new organisation chart for the Department of Education and Skills, required in part by the promotion of one of the Assistant Secretaries in the last few weeks. In the small print is a new title for Special Education Section: “Special Education Including Special Education Litigation”. Seriously guys, you need to provide the services at a level and in a way so there is no need for a section that needs to have “Special Education Litigation” in its title.
Enda Kenny = Adolf Hitler. Apparently. July 28, 2011
Posted by Garibaldy in Crazed nonsense....22 comments
The last European leader to make such a blistering attack on the Pope was the ruthless German dictator Adolf Hitler.
A United Right Alliance ? January 16, 2011
Posted by irishelectionliterature in Crazed nonsense..., Irish Politics.46 comments
So Shane Ross has declared that he will run as an Independent in Dublin South. Which throws a cat amongst the pigeons there electorally, but possibly more importantly he’s got off the fence.
In the past year we’ve seen these constant calls to arms for a new party, a new PDs to emerge. A vehicle for McDowell, Pat Cox and Declan Ganley et al to come riding in to our rescue.
All of them must have thought of running ‘for the good of the country‘ , which ‘needs a radical shake up‘ but were waiting for the right vehicle to come along.
So maybe Ross getting off the fence provides the opportunity for like minded Independents to form a United Right Alliance?
You sign a pledge on certain policies.
-Scrap The Croke Park Agreement
-Reduction of Public Sector numbers and pay.
-Reduction of Social Welfare.
and so on…. and you’re in.
Its not a party but what would become a technical group in The Dail. Maybe The National Forum (National Alliance?) could provide the impetus?
(Incidentally Paul Sommerville in Dublin South East and David McWilliams in Dun Laoghaire are also rumoured to be standing as Independents. Even Eddie Hobbs is being mentioned )
Sunday Independent Stupid Statement of the Week December 26, 2010
Posted by Garibaldy in Crazed nonsense....4 comments
Perhaps it was the Christmas shopping; or perhaps their efforts have exhausted them this year; but there’s a definite feeling that most of the columnists weren’t even trying this week, but their natural tendencies ensure our regular feature can continue.
Ruth Dudley Edwards gives another masterclass in the profoundly trivial, with an extremely bizarre list of reasons to be cheerful. Including such gems as this
Unlike the unfortunate asylum seekers and economic migrants risking their lives, we have innumerable countries that will take us in. What’s more, with computers, Skype and cheap flights, families can keep in touch.
Eilis O’Hanlon, as usual, completely misses the point
That message is particularly relevant at a time when so many people seem to be, for want of a more delicate phrase, getting their rocks off on the recession. You know the type. They’re the ones who said that Ireland had lost its soul during the Celtic Tiger years and that a slowing down of growth would do us all the power of good. Well, they got their wish. Now it’s come, far from being humbled into admitting they were nothing but pretentious snobs who didn’t like the sight of oiks with too much money, they’ve simply got a new hobby, which is rubbing their hands in liberal glee at the sight of so much misery. It’s all led to the development of a new poverty porn in the media, characterised by lovingly detailed accounts of the hardships of the poor in post- Budget Ireland.
And we will finish with Willie O’Dea. A farcical note to end a farcial year under the guidance of a farcical political elite of which he is such a shining example.
We will, in the years ahead, look back at the EU/IMF deal as a significant and pivotal moment in our political and economic history. I suspect that we will look back upon it as the moment when our economic and social fortunes started to turn, and may even come to regard it as a positive development.
A Communist Christmas to One and All December 24, 2010
Posted by Garibaldy in Crazed nonsense....4 comments
Spotted this on Mark McGregor’s twitter account a few days back, and it’s been doing the rounds on email since, so people may have seen it. Mildly entertaining.
Hope everyone enjoys tomorrow, and doesn’t freeze to death or spend it wrestling with burst pipes.
Bertie and Cyprian’s Christmas wishes December 20, 2010
Posted by irishelectionliterature in Crazed nonsense....Tags: fianna fail
23 comments
On this snowy evening in Dublin I thought I would share some of Bertie and Cyprian’s Christmas Spirit.
From Bertie and Cyprian a Christmas card with the message
“Thank You and Best Wishes for Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year” – ‘From Your Local TDs -Fianna Fail’.
Rest of it HERE
Sunday Independent Stupid Statement of the Week – Special IMF Commemorative Edition November 21, 2010
Posted by Garibaldy in Crazed nonsense..., media.7 comments
It seems that the commentariat of the Sindo is experiencing a form of collective shell-shock. I was expecting this week’s paper to be on the war path, filled with unabashed neo-liberal bile and venom, all of it stupid and all of it eminently quotable. But apparently not. For example, it was left to Celia Larkin to red-scare against the Provos, while poor Gerry Adams merited only a light slap in passing for coming to Louth. Instead, although the government gets abuse, the paper was downbeat and restrained. So it’s hysterical at the best of times, and when things appear to be at their worst, it becomes taciturn. Perhaps a collective deep breath before unleashing a barrage next week telling us how this is the greatest thing ever. Certainly though, the lack of self-awareness we all know and love has not been dented. This from Declan Lynch, in a piece where he rightly accuses Fianna Fáil of being so intoxicated by its own bullshit it has started to believe it
It is an addiction too, the old bullshit, and it has played a remarkable role in the destruction of Ireland.
This is true. And a fair proportion of it has emanated from the Sindo (see this reaction from a prominent Sindo columnist to being called on his bullshit for example. Thanks to regular commenter Shane for that link).
The paper is though still capable of throwing out some supremely silly statements. Just ask Julia Molony, who unfortunately is probably not being sarcastic.
IT might seem a little joyless to bring up divorce while the whole world is celebrating a royal engagement
We also get the amusing sight of a somewhat penitent Willie O’Dea, before moving on to the really silly stuff.
Brendan O’Connor has jumped the gun on the turn to praise the IMF, by informing us that we shouldn’t be too worried.
All the IMF will do is make us do what we keep saying we’re going to do, the things that our local yokels’ need for popularity prevents them from doing — the right things.
Aengus Fanning is pleased to see economic policy being removed from the hands of the locally-elected politicians, and placed elsewhere. He condemns these same politicians in what can only be described an act of amnesia or total hypocrisy. I wonder which it might be.
The Government has rightly pursued the Holy Grail of export-led growth but, in doing so, it has allowed a brutally deflationary policy to be imposed on our people. By depressing consumer demand, allowing businesses to close, jobs to be lost, and property prices to collapse, it has sought to make us more internationally competitive, causing great collateral damage through the blighting of human lives.
Who cheered on that policy Aengus?
There is one Sindo columnist, however, who has not forgotten. First prize to Jody Corcoran, who, providing some passion, once again spectacularly succeeds in following an agenda that places the blame for the crisis squarely at the wrong door, and that can lead only to further chaos, crisis and economic disaster.
The Government likes to claim there have been four austere Budgets in its lifetime, when, in truth, there has only been one, and even that — the last — was almost fudged when the Taoiseach sought to cave in to his most basic instinct, which is to protect Fianna Fail by protecting a public sector so big, so bloated, so fattened on the suckling tit of benchmarking, itself bankrolled by the excess of the property bubble; his instinct to step slowly, carefully, embracing the social partners who were, by the by, exposed for having routinely partaken in the Fas-like sense of entitlement so engendered by the Celtic Tiger.
A report was commissioned from Colm McCarthy’s group, but left to gather dust; quangos, stuffed to the gills with the cronies of Fianna Fail, 14 years in power, remain largely untouched; the semi-States, gilded and carpeted, many of them pointless, standing as monuments to the excesses of the age, their CEO’s earning a multiple of the salary of the president of the United States; the banks, unreconstructed, the bastards therein who
did this to us, in the main, still there, still drawing down their bonuses, still quaffing on a bogus prestige; property developers, unrepentant, as vacuously empty as the white elephants they have left behind, who wrested the State from the body politic to abuse as they wish, their own plaything with which to enrich themselves; and the political system itself, of course, seemingly powerless in this dance to the death with the elite, which has brought the country to ruin after just 80 years in existence, just that, unreformed and increasingly unaccountable, hiding behind the shambles that is Harney’s HSE, for but one example, and now turning in on itself, its only refuge, unable to understand the anger of the people which is welling up that it might burst any day now into a pyre of burning flames.For Christ’s sake, would they not just go, and go now, this very day, that we may salvage something from the ashes with which to start again.
You live and learn. Or not.
