Archbishop Eamon Martin urged to speak out on Irish Hate Crime Bill
BREAKING: ARCHBISHOP EAMON MARTIN URGED TO SPEAK OUT ON HATE CRIME BILL (NEW GENDER DEFINITION) Archbishop Eamon Martin is the Primate of All Ireland and President of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Martina Burke and Josiah Burke visited Armagh on Saturday to raise the Hate Crime Bill with the Archbishop. The Bill passed the Seanad (Senate) last week and will go before Dáil Éireann for a final vote this Wednesday. The Bill would establish a radical new definition of gender, stating that “gender…includes transgender and a gender other than those of male and female.” We asked Archbishop Martin if he would use his position of power and influence to speak out on this issue. Whilst the Archbishop stated that he had spoken in the past on this issue, he acknowledged that he had not spoken on the Hate Crime Bill in recent days. There was no clarity forthcoming from him on whether he would clearly address the issue of this Bill at this critical moment. Whilst he said that there were lay people who were addressing this issue, we would question why the Archbishop himself is not speaking out. In an effort to dismiss public concerns, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has repeatedly stated that the redefinition of gender is for the Hate Crime Bill only and will not affect any other legislation. McEntee repeated this during the Seanad sitting last Wednesday. These statements from Helen McEntee are absolute lies. The true intention of the Minister for Justice and the Department of Justice is to substitute the new definition of gender into every piece of legislation on the statute books that involves gender. This was made clear during the Seanad Debate on Wednesday last week when a private Fine Gael email from Helen McEntee to Deputy Richard Bruton was read out by Senator Ronan Mullen. That email was in relation to the new definition of gender in the Hate Crime Bill. The email stated that a review of the Equal Status Act and the Employment Equality Act is taking place and that when that review is finished, the definitions of protected characteristics in the Hate Crime Bill will be reconsidered to ensure consistency in definitions across the Statute Book. In public and to the Houses of the Oireachtas, the Minister is saying that the new definition of gender is for the Hate Crime Bill only. In private and to her Fine Gael colleagues, she is saying that all definitions of gender across the Statute Book will be rewritten. Such deliberate deceit from one in such a position of responsibility and authority is reprehensible. It calls for the Minister’s resignation. It is unbelievable that in response to this deceit, Senator Ronan Mullen was at pains to say that come what may, “I have the greatest of respect and goodwill towards you and your family…and that will continue.” We thank God for the recent closure of the Tavistock gender clinic, to which hundreds of vulnerable Irish children had been referred. So-called ‘professionals’ placed these children, many of whom suffered from mental problems, on a pathway to puberty blockers, mutilation and, sadly for many, suicide. This Hate Crime Bill with its new definition of gender would give legitimacy to this poisonous ideology which preys on the most vulnerable and allows for no dissent. This is the eleventh hour. An incredibly dangerous Bill is coming before the Dáil next Wednesday. We are calling on Archbishop Eamon Martin to speak out. Credit to : Josiah Burke