Roderic O’Gorman’s Department of Equality has refused to confirm whether refusing to use a person’s preferred pronouns could be an example of unlawful discrimination or harassment in a workplace setting.
After being asked by Gript whether such an act could be unlawful, the Department initially responded with a simple outline of the Equality Acts.
“The Equality Acts are the Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015 and the Equal Status Acts 2000-2018,” a Department spokesperson said.
“…The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) hears discrimination complaints under the Equality Acts. The WRC deals with both employment and service/goods related claims. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission provides information to the public on their rights under equality law in Ireland.”
When asked again for a clear answer on whether or not this amounted to unlawful harassment or discrimination, the Department again refused to confirm, saying: “It is a matter for the Courts and Workplace Relations Commission to make judgements or decisions on the application of the law in individual circumstances.”
The development comes after Gript asked Minister Roderic O’Gorman the same question, which he refused to answer.
"That's not an answer to the question": Ben Scallan accuses Irish Equality Minister Roderic O'Gorman of "evasion" for refusing to say whether or not "misgendering" someone at work could constitute unlawful discrimination or harassment.#gript pic.twitter.com/MDONaRHfTs
— gript (@griptmedia) October 5, 2023
Last week Irish university lecturer Collette Colfer told her employer, South East Technical University, that she won’t be complying with its new gender identity policy, because the university claimed that refusal to use students’ or staff members’ preferred gender pronouns is an example of “unlawful discrimination or harassment.”
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If someone at my place of work had insisted he is the real king of England and should be addressed as “Your majesty” I would certainly not have indulged in his delusion. Why should it be any different with a man claiming to be a woman or woman a man or a person thinking he or she is somehow the embodiment of a number of people?
To use a preferred pronoun that contradicts reality is a perversion of language. Refusing to use a pronoun of choice has nothing to do with discrimination or harassment. To label someone as such is cruel because it denies that person is deluded. It also makes these two words meaningless for purely ideological and not linguistic reasons. The meaning of a word depends on its context and frequency of use so it cannot mean whatever a person feels or forces it to mean without creating utter confusion.
That’s ridiculous. I am obviously not the king of England. I am the reincarnated late Queen. You can still call me your majesty.
As for O’Gorman he won’t answer because he can’t. He believes in this trans crap and wants to ram it down the throats of the rest of us and will use the coercive hate speech law to do it. He is very another vile totalitarian in a government that’s full of them
James, you nailed it but perhaps we need to direct some of our anger and disgust at the mainstream media and their total failure to ask these hard questions of our government and politicians.
Exactly. It is so far legal for someone to smoke in Ireland. However his right does not extend to allowing him to smoke in pubs, cinemas, theatres, restaurants, etc.
Between this woke nonsense, families impoverished from housing and inflation, and Fine Gael’s Great Plantation via open borders,
Ireland Is On It’s Knees. Unless, we get an Irish AFD, this country will never recover, because their will be nothing left of the Irish nation.
JOIN THE IRISH FREEDOM PARTY
Ben, when these ministers dodge and evade your wholly reasonable questions like Mr O’Gorman does, I suggest you end the session by telling the ministee (in this example) that
“Viewers will inevitably conclude from your evasions that in fact misgendering someone would most certainly constitute unlawful discrimination or harassment, but you don’t want to say this out loud”.
Then leave him to deny it.
Do this with all your interviews!
Thanks Ben. O’Gorman couldn’t decide if he wanted his breakfast eggs cooked any of 12 ways or toast buttered if asked. He’s way out of his depth politically, and not the most intelligent TD on the gravy train. He’d swoon over an NGO that promoted the neutering of pets as an illegal act, that the pet hadn’t been asked, or that it was discriminatory because the pet in question – a dog – really wanted to self identify as a moth, which are not an obvious selection for neutering.