Latest news with #TENI
Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Mammies For Trans Rights are marching to turn fear into joy
Today, across the globe, we see not only trans kids being attacked, but the entire LGBT+ community under attack. History shows us that when the rights of one vulnerable group are undermined, everyone's rights are vulnerable. We remember the Ireland of the 1970s, '80s, and '90s and the homophobia that was directed at gay men and lesbian women. We remember the insidious shaming and punishing of women and anyone who didn't conform to the rigidly-imposed rules. As President Michael D Higgins said last week: 'We will not go back!' Fear is being weaponised Whether your child is trans or not, it is frightening to be a parent right now, in a time of enormous uncertainty, with the fear of minorities being weaponised to distract from the huge issues we face — housing, health, cost of living, climate, genocide, and war. To kick off Dublin Pride week, we teamed up with TENI and TransParenCI for a story sharing event last night - is there anything more powerful than a room full of Mammies ? Love always wins 🏳️⚧️❤️🏳️🌈@DublinPride #translivesmatter #Pride2025 #Pride #Dublin — Mammies for Trans Rights (@Mams4Trans) June 24, 2025 There are powerful forces attempting to drive a culturally conservative regression internationally, and this is a worrying time. We're told that people from different places, people with different accents or skin colours, people different gender identities or sexual expressions, shouldn't be in our countries, our communities, our sports teams, our schools, our bathrooms. We are encouraged to scan the people around us for differences we should find threatening. For your child to be demonised in the media can feel suffocating and utterly removed from the real experience of family life, which is filled with the same parenting dilemmas everyone faces — how to make them eat more vegetables, spend less time on screens, and wear jackets on cold days — but also the unbridled pleasure of watching children blossom into their beautiful, authentic selves. A parent's role We are the adults in charge of today's world, so it's our responsibility to try to shape the conversations that are happening around us — nationally, in our communities, and in our families. Let's talk about how our role as parents is simply to create a safe and supportive space for our kids when they close the door behind them. We know that if they feel loved and secure now, they'll figure out much of what their future looks like for themselves — and we will share the rare privilege of being part of the glorious unfolding adventure of that young person's life. Isn't that what every loving parent wants? What if we say no the fearmongering? What if we decide to love people as they are? What if we refuse to be afraid of each other? What if we share a cup of tea and a slice of cake and have a chat, as mammies do? When the mammies march, it's a call to all the people who don't want to be afraid any more. You don't have to be a trans mammy, a mammy at all, or even have the capacity to give birth to join us. Ours is a call to care, to love. Caring for all young people We are starting conversations about how we can care for all the young people in our communities, and about how all of us are responsible for looking out for young trans, intersex, non-binary, and queer kids. Everyone has the right to bodily autonomy, to make their own medical decisions in private with their doctor, and to access the lifesaving, person-centred medical care they need, in their community. It takes a village to raise a child, but our villages can seem more fragmented now and many of us feel isolated, frightened, and alone. It's not too late though. We can rebuild those communities and invite everyone to join in. A global village built on love is not a 1960s hippy pipedream. It is a vital, joyous aspiration we all need. Trans joy is the simple human joy of being seen, loved, and valued as your true self and that is something every one of us yearns for and every one of us can experience in the village we can build together. This world can be a scary place, but it's far less overwhelming when you have good people by your side to share the journey. What started out as two Limerick mams wanting to support their own kids has become Mammies for Trans Rights, a group of hundreds of allies across the island of Ireland and further afield in Scotland, England, France, Canada, and Australia. Every year we have teams of mammies marching in Pride parades and, last week, the Mammies were invited to Áras an Uachtaráin by President Higgins for a garden party to celebrate activism across the community. There is enormous power in community. Let's do this. Let's share the love. March, write letters, organise in your community, or simply give us a big cheer when you see us passing at Pride — we are all together in this. Karen Sugrue and Bernie Linnane are members of Mammies for Trans Rights, @mams4trans Dublin Pride parade begins at 12.30pm on Saturday on O'Connell St
RTÉ News
27-04-2025
- Politics
- RTÉ News
MEP Regina Doherty not sure if 2022 evidence on gender would 'stand up today'
Dublin MEP Regina Doherty has said she is not sure if evidence she gave in the Seanad in 2022 that there are nine genders would stand up to scrutiny today, after being criticised by Senator Michael McDowell. On RTÉ's The Week in Politics, Ms Doherty was asked about Independent Senator McDowell's article in the Irish Times earlier this week. In the article, Senator McDowell said: "To the best of my knowledge, neither she nor any of her colleagues in government ever attempted to enumerate these other genders, despite many requests that they should do so." Ms Doherty said she normally would not respond when someone tries to make a political weapon of an issue, but added: "For all my political life what I've tried to do is to support transgender people, to support people who have a medical condition, that are undergoing a transition, that are exceptionally vulnerable, and all they're trying to do is to live a normal life, the same way as you and I would. "That's something that we probably take for granted, when I see politicians trying to polarise and politicise this issue ... it makes me really sad." Ms Doherty was Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection when a review of the Gender Recognition Act was carried out in 2017. Speaking on the programme in Brussels, Ms Doherty said: "These are vulnerable people, there's a tiny percentage of the population, but unfortunately it's growing that have been treated by our gender services, and we need to treat them with respect, notwithstanding the issues that women have raised. "You don't need to address women's issues by politicising people who have a medical condition who are exceptionally vulnerable, as Michael McDowell has sought to do, and I think that's a real pity, and it's not something that I've ever done, and I mightn't have got everything right, and I really don't know, you know, whether the evidence that I gave based on the interactions that I had with TENI at the time would stand up today." Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) represents transgender people and their families and advocated for Minister Doherty (as she was at the time) to lower the age of gender self-identification. The article by Senator McDowell followed a decision by the UK Supreme Court that ruled that sex is binary, and that the legal definition of a woman and a man are based on biological sex at birth. Following that decision, Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane said on social media that the ruling was "common sense", an opinion he later withdrew. Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan was asked about her party colleague on The Week in Politics. She said that Deputy Cullinane was right to withdraw the remarks. "I have trans people in my circle of friends and have known trans people for years. Trans people exist, and that's what they want, is the right to exist. And I feel that they're now being, it's been completely weaponised. "They're under attack on all fronts. And we need to show compassion and empathy for the trans community, who are getting dragged into fights and political rows that they don't even want to be involved in, and I will always stand by the trans community." Pressed on whether she represented the Sinn Féin position, Ms Boylan said: "We have had our Ard Fheis motions in terms of gender recognition and the right of people to express their gender, and that is party policy."
Reuters
04-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Middle Eastern bourses end mixed, Aramco drags Saudi
March 4 (Reuters) - Stock markets in the Gulf ended mixed on Tuesday as new U.S. tariffs threatened to escalate global trade tensions, while Saudi Aramco's disappointing earnings weighed on investor sentiment. U.S. President Donald Trump's new 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada took effect on Tuesday, along with a doubling of duties on Chinese goods to 20%, launching new trade conflicts with the top three U.S. trading partners. Saudi Arabia's benchmark index (.TASI), opens new tab dropped 1.6%, weighed by a 2.2% fall in Aramco ( opens new tab after the oil giant reported a drop in annual profit and signalled it will slash its dividend payouts by nearly a third this year to $85.4 billion. The sharply lower dividends could also mean fewer funds for the kingdom, which directly owns 81.5% of Aramco, as it races to complete several mammoth projects and possibly faces a wider budget deficit. The firm also declared $200 million in performance-linked dividends to be paid in the first quarter of 2025, a steep decline from the nearly $10.8 billion declared for each quarter of 2024. The kingdom's energy index (.TENI), opens new tab was down 2.2%. Aramco's results fell short of expectations and significantly impacted the energy sector, said George Pavel, general manager at trading platform "External factors further weighed on market sentiment, with oil prices continuing to decline following OPEC's decision to increase production," Pavel said. In Abu Dhabi, the index (.FTFADGI), opens new tab finished 0.3% higher, helped by a 1.5% gain in petrochemical firm Borouge ( opens new tab after the announcement of its merger with Borealis to form the world's fourth largest polyolefins firm by production capacity. The merged entity, Borouge Group International, will combine two joint ventures: Borealis, which is 75% owned by Austria's OMV ( opens new tab and 25% by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, and Borouge, which is 54% owned by ADNOC and 36% by Borealis. Dubai's main share index (.DFMGI), opens new tab gained 0.5%, led by a 2.2% rise in blue-chip developer Emaar Properties ( opens new tab. Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30), opens new tab dropped 0.7%, hit by a 1.1% dip in Commercial International Bank ( opens new tab. SAUDI ARABIA (.TASI) fell 1.6% to 11,932 Abu Dhabi (.FTFADGI) rose 0.3% to 9,591 Dubai (.DFMGI) added 0.5% to 5,355 QATAR (.QSI) was up 0.1% to 10,471 EGYPT (.EGX30) down 0.7% to 30,763 BAHRAIN (.BAX) finished flat at 1,980 OMAN (.MSX30) lost 0.3% to 4,411 KUWAIT (.BKP) was down 0.1% to 8,758
