Last Saturday I went to report on the Let Women Speak event which took place outside Merrion Square in Dublin.
It’s already been widely reported that Let Women Speak drew a sizeable protest featuring some political characters from People Before Profit, many of whom had publicly encouraged others to protest the event.
The likes of Paul Murphy, Ruth Coppinger, and Richard Boyd Barrett all reposted a banner with words to the effect of ‘Terfs are not welcome in Dublin’ on their twitter accounts while condemning those who agree with the message of the event.
From what I could see the only political figure who attended Let Women Speak in support of it was Senator Sharon Keogan.
From the shouts and bold chanting of the protesters it’s rather difficult to imagine that people who identify as trans or non-binary (or whatever the case may be) are in fear of their safety in this country as claimed by Coppinger.
Young trans people experience a climate of fear because of Posie Parker, Graham Linehan & TERFs.
A clip from my speech at the @transpridedublin protest #PosieParker #nohate pic.twitter.com/nNlFTFZ3wY— Ruth Coppinger (@RuthCoppingerSP) September 17, 2023
The chants included, ‘Posie Parker you can’t hide, you’ve got Nazis on your side, ‘trans rights are women’s rights, same struggle same fight’ and ‘there’s more of us than you’, among others.
In her speech at the event Coppinger claimed that she knew young ‘trans’ people who have ‘dropped out of college’ and lost out on opportunities because of people like the attendees of Let Women Speak.
I wonder if the young people she’s talking about might struggle to keep up with college and compete in society because of the mental distress of believing they were born in the wrong bodies, not to mention having people like Ruth telling them they’re correct.
Indeed much of official Ireland is so utterly supportive of the ‘trans’ message that many who do not endorse the notion that you can change your sex – or that children should be put on puberty blockers and cross sex hormones – appear to be utterly baffled as to how this is so.
How did the notion that a man in a dress is a woman simply because he says he is become so acceptable seemingly overnight?
My colleague, Dr. Matt Treacy, has penned an article about how ridiculous it was that a placard featuring the face of Lenin – who wasn’t exactly a fan of people who identify as trans – was displayed at the protest.
I saw the same one at the Belfast event some months ago.
Much of the mainstream media coverage given to those who protested Let Women Speak has framed their demonstration as a rejection of ‘hate’ with one protester saying that the rhetoric of people like Kellie Jay Keen has caused “real world harm”.
Unfortunately the journalist who interviewed the young woman in question doesn’t seem to have asked her to qualify that remark and we are left guessing what actual harm has been caused by those who refuse to believe that it’s possible to change one’s sex.
The large crowd protesting the event were kept separate from those in attendance by a heavy duty temporary barricade and a distance which must have been at least 50 meters was left in between the crowds with another barricade on the other side.
Gardaí searched the belongings of those entering in on the LWS side with an officer explaining that they had been instructed to search for drugs, weapons, and alcohol.
As I moved through the crowd looking for people willing to be interviewed on camera, I quickly became aware of a trend that I’ve seen over and over since I began interviewing people on the ground about issues related to transgender ideology and indeed immigration.
So many people say they are afraid to speak on camera for fear of reprisals, and let’s not forget that this is in the absence of Helen McEntee’s infamous hate speech bill.
I often get the sense that those who tell me they are too afraid to speak – most of whom say they support the work of Gript – don’t seem to be afraid that they’ll be shunned by their friends and family.
Rather they seem to fear for themselves professionally.
Now I can’t imagine that all or even that many of the dozens of people I’ve asked to answer a few short questions on camera are civil servants and therefore duty bound not to get involved in political activities.
It seems like ordinary people privately employed are terrified to say what they really think in the Ireland of today, unless of course they have the right opinions.
And that’s the crux of the issue: we do not live in a free society when Irish men and Irish women look a journalist in the eyes and say ‘I’m afraid for my job’.
A group of young gay people wearing ‘NAG’ Not All Gays t-shirts also told me they were fearful of speaking about their views on camera.
We do not live in a free society when conservative figures in the Irish government ask not to have their daughter’s reception of an award covered in the media because they’re afraid she will be attacked because of who her parent is.
As Gript editor John McGuirk said at Ireland Uncensored, people regularly come up to him and say they are “secret Gript readers”. Why are people in this country so afraid to say what they think?
Perhaps the answer is no more complicated than this, the left in Ireland are authoritarian and vicious. They actively seek to have people they accuse of ‘wrong think’ canceled whether it be boxer Kellie Harrington or singer Roisin Murphy.
Our government is taking steps to criminalise instances of ‘wrong think’ and even without their beloved hate speech bill, fear of reprisal is already causing Irish citizens to self censor, even over something as common sense as the fact that women don’t have penises.
Loading ...