One might expect sectarian divisions in Northern Ireland, but the latest bitter doctrinal divide to set neighbour against neighbour has been in the Republic of Ireland. Last Friday, to mark “Transgender Day of Remembrance” (TDoR) a number of Ireland’s leading non-governmental organisations signed an open letter calling on the “media, and politicians to no longer provide legitimate representation for those that share bigoted beliefs”.

The letter, which was published in GCN, Ireland’s national gay magazine, attracted signatories including the National Women’s Council of Ireland, the Abortion Rights Campaign and Amnesty Ireland (though this is currently listed as the parent body Amnesty International). In essence, once liberal human rights organisations are calling for the disenfranchisement of those who do not share their political views. Somewhat ironically, they have justified their attempt to have their opponents silenced by invoking the threat of far-right fascism.

Ireland is now widely cited as a leader in transgender rights

Lest we forget, thankfully there have been no killings of transgender people either in Ireland, or in the United Kingdom over the course of the past year. Statistics analysed by Channel 4’s Fact Check suggest that those who identify as transgender are less likely to be murdered than the general population (at an estimated rate of one-in-200,000 to one-in-500,000 for people who identify as transgender compared the one-in-100,000 of those who are not). The high rate of murders of those categorised as “transgender” by international NGOs positively correlates with the countries where there are cultures of cross-dressing gay men in the sex trade. The weaponization of such murders for political point-scoring is a grotesque indication of the depths to which organisations will sink in defence of a dubious ideology.

From a slow start, Ireland is now widely cited as a leader in transgender rights. To obtain a legal change of sex and a new birth certificate one simply has to complete a form; Ireland has had “gender self-identification” without safeguards or the need for a diagnosis of “gender dysphoria” since 2015. For three years until a change in the law on the termination of pregnancy, this led to a somewhat bizarre situation whereby a legal “man” could have a baby, but a woman could not obtain an abortion.

This is still not enough for extremist transgender activists, and today allowing children to self-identify their gender and legal recognition of “non-binary” identities are being discussed within government.

The TDoR letter was not the first attempt to stifle debate by self-appointed advocates for transgender people. In 2018 a British women’s group called We Need to Talk planned to visit Ireland to give a series of talks, one of which was about abortion and due to take place in Dublin. A letter written by the nominally feminist group Feminist Ire accused We Need to Talk of “transphobia” blazing, “what is it that you know of Irish feminism that you feel entitled and authorised to come here and lecture us on?”. The event was cancelled.

At the time Feminist Ire wrote their statement reaffirming their belief that “transwomen are women”, teenager Barbie Kardashian had been identifying as a woman for three years. Later in 2018 Kardashian, who has a history of extreme physical and sexual violence toward women, tore the eyelids from a female care worker.

The TDoR letter includes the somewhat surprising assertion that biological sex is a spectrum

This September the teenager, was placed on remand in Limerick women’s prison following charges of making threats to kill. Kardashian joins another “transgender woman” prisoner in Limerick prison; a male who has neither taken hormones nor had surgery and has been convicted of ten counts of sexual assault and one count of cruelty against a child. It is shameful that organisations which have historically protected the rights of the vulnerable have not spoken-up for the women now imprisoned with these exceptionally dangerous males.

The total capitulation of NGOs to woke authoritarianism has led to a renaissance in critical thinking and grassroots activism. New groups of “gender heretics” include Resisters Ireland, Radicailín, The Countess Didn’t Fight for This and the LGB Alliance Ireland. Ceri Black, one of the founding members of the of LGB Alliance Ireland told me:

When I was the LGB officer for my university group, twenty years ago, I pushed through the addition of the ‘T’ against strong opposition. I agree with the signatories of this letter that trans people should be included in our society and respected and treated with dignity and have access to appropriate medical care. I also know that there are important differences between same sex attracted people and trans people, and that there are conflicts between LGB and trans rights. Wanting to raise these conflicts and find solutions together through a process of civil debate does not make me, or any of the LGB Alliance Ireland, transphobic.

Just as in the United Kingdom, in Ireland lesbian, gay and bisexual people can no longer rely on mainstream organisations for support as attraction on the basis of biological sex is now deemed “transphobic”. One must accept the concept of lesbians with penises and gay men with vulvas, or else be cast out of the queer cult as a heathen.

As with any fascist movement, the wokerati bend biological facts and history to fit their warped ideology

Hyperbole and grammatical errors aside, one of the most troubling aspects of the TDoR letter is the liberal use of what might charitably be called “alternative facts”. The somewhat surprising assertion is made that biological sex is a spectrum, inviting one to wonder what strange monsters lurk between egg and sperm; “ovamatozoa” perhaps? How respected organisations came to lend their names to such nonsense is a testament to the grip of groupthink, and the desperate desire to be amongst the righteous few.

Referencing the proud history of liberatory struggle, the TDoR letter draws upon the memory of Marsha P. Johnson. Johnson was a founder member of the Gay Liberation Front and he is on record as describing himself as both a “boy in drag” and a transvestite, in the letter Johnson is referred to as “a woman”.

Not only is this ahistorical, it also does a disservice to the memory of a brave man who was out and proud at a time of profound discrimination against homosexuals. But as with any fascist movement, the wokerati bend biological facts and history to fit their warped ideology. It seems Amnesty Ireland, the National Women’s Council of Ireland and the Abortion Rights Campaign pose a much greater danger to civil liberties and basic human rights than those accused of supposed “transphobia”.

Over a century ago, before becoming the first woman to be elected to Westminster, albeit for a seat she refused to take-up, Constance Markievicz observed: “Lately things seem to be changing … so now again a strong tide of liberty seems to be coming towards us, swelling and growing and carrying before it all the outposts that hold women enslaved”.

These words from 1909 could equally be applied to the fight against the authoritarian ideologues of today. What has emerged in the Republic of Ireland is a grassroots movement in opposition to the fascistic elite NGOs who have mindlessly virtue-signalled away the very rights women like Markievicz helped to secure.