Bishop warns against changes to gender law
‘Imprudent’ to let teens declare themselves ‘neutral’, says Leahy
A BISHOP has warned the State against making ‘imprudent’ changes to legislation in allowing teenagers to be able to declare themselves ‘gender neutral’ without the consent of their parents.
The Gender Recognition (Amendment) Bill seeks to allow 16 and 17 year olds to declare their own gender – different to their assigned biological gender – without the consent of their parents.
Changes to the legislation introduced in 2015 would also allow those aged under 16 to have legal gender recognition with parental consent.
The proposed changes are backed by a number of groups supporting the rights of transgender people, including the Transgender Equality Network Ireland.
However, there have been some concerns about the ‘promotion of gender ideology’ among teenagers. Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy, told the Irish Mail on Sunday that he would advise caution in this area.
‘We would want also to be mindful of scientific research in this area. The promotion of the gender ideology is a totally new scenario and it would be imprudent to start making significant legislative enactments that are not well grounded in scientific research and reflection.
‘A desire to do the good, compassionate thing is not always the same as actually doing it,’ said Bishop Leahy.
‘It can be understandable that legislation aims to reflect the uniqueness of each individual. However, love for all and respecting uniqueness does not deny differences, nor does it mean promoting radical individualism or God’s plan for each one of us,’ he said.
Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty confirmed that a report is due to be submitted to her office to examine areas of review of the 2015 Gender Recognition Act at the end of May.
An English cardinal also recently warned teachers against embracing gender ideology in Catholic schools.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster suggested that children would find their ‘greatest joy’ by accepting their biological sex rather than selecting a gender of their choice. Children are not ‘single, self-determining individuals’, the cardinal told head teachers in the UK, ‘but members of a great family’ with ‘firm points of reference that are already built into our humanity at its best’. Bishop Leahy told the MoS that he believes Cardinal Nichols’s views are ‘worthy of reflection’. ‘All persons are to be loved and cared for. That’s a basic statement of Christianity,’ he said. More than 300 people in the State have received gender recognition certificates since September 2015, a spokesman for the department said. Eighty-nine certificates were issued in 2015, 109 in 2016, 97 last year and, so far this year, 28 have been issued. Of the 323 certificates issued to date, 11 have been given to people aged under 18.