Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Trans rights are human rights. Both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have rightly opposed sentiments expressed by the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association concerning teaching about transgender identities on the curriculum. The letter that body sent stated that any education relating to transgender identity in primary schools would be "counterproductive, generating unnecessary division in school communities where none now exists". It went on to use transphobic language, with reference to a "growing psychological contagion amongst young and vulnerable children". OMG. It is important that there be no backsliding on this issue on the part of the Government. The reality of transgender identities needs to be recognised. Children need to be taught about the world around them as it is and there should be no return to the bad old days of denying transgender identity in our schools. The Tánaiste said he was disappointed by the letter but surely it is no surprise. Objective sex education and Catholic Church control of education are oil and water. They do not mix. Is it not time to separate church and State?

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