Many years ago, long before I was blocked by him, I was listening to the Niall Boylan show. There was a (skewed) debate on Trans rights which segued into Niall retelling a story he heard about a person who didn't identify as a human. This person had performed several body modifications to become an alien, which Niall summised as being a mental illness suffered by this individual.
Apart from a potential Space Jam audition I'm not sure why someone would want to become an alien but I also say live and let live, it doesn't bother me, and if there is a condition I would say its probably more artistic than mentally unstable. People are complex and being different doesn't mean you have a mental health condition.
Perhaps this is a rather straight forward analogy that most people can easily reckon with because it's comfortable absurd, and aliens don't compete in sports events without the presence of bugs bunny.
Presently there is a big push to recognise trans people and establish trans rights. While the underlying ideology that trans people should have equal rights and seamlessly live their lives, there is however a problematic issue when it comes to sporting events, and once again this came into the limelight over the weekend when the Sunday Independent covered a story that was already widespread on social media. That of course being that Na Gaeil Aeracha fielded a trans player in the Dublin Junior J Shield football final.
Without getting sidetracked too much I just want to point out that junior is the level of play and not an age category, despite the level of misinformation out there.
What's problematic here is that the LGFA have no rules on the participation of trans players, whereas other sporting bodies do. For instance the International Olympic Committee have a policy on diversity and inclusion and has several terms that trans athletes must meet to ensure a level playing field. Again not to get side tracked on what's fair right now, but my point is to establish that sporting bodies/associations have a responsibility to set the rules of their game and if you want to play you have to follow the rules.
While I admire Na Gaeil for having an LGBTQ+ policy I think perhaps they were premature in starting a player that didn't meet the current set of rules. I'm not sure what work the club had done with the LGFA when they introduced their policy, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them stripped of their silverwear as a result of this. That perhaps, as a team, is something they're willing to sacrifice to progress the game, trans rights, and the culture of their club.
Apart from a potential Space Jam audition I'm not sure why someone would want to become an alien but I also say live and let live, it doesn't bother me, and if there is a condition I would say its probably more artistic than mentally unstable. People are complex and being different doesn't mean you have a mental health condition.
Perhaps this is a rather straight forward analogy that most people can easily reckon with because it's comfortable absurd, and aliens don't compete in sports events without the presence of bugs bunny.
Presently there is a big push to recognise trans people and establish trans rights. While the underlying ideology that trans people should have equal rights and seamlessly live their lives, there is however a problematic issue when it comes to sporting events, and once again this came into the limelight over the weekend when the Sunday Independent covered a story that was already widespread on social media. That of course being that Na Gaeil Aeracha fielded a trans player in the Dublin Junior J Shield football final.
Without getting sidetracked too much I just want to point out that junior is the level of play and not an age category, despite the level of misinformation out there.
What's problematic here is that the LGFA have no rules on the participation of trans players, whereas other sporting bodies do. For instance the International Olympic Committee have a policy on diversity and inclusion and has several terms that trans athletes must meet to ensure a level playing field. Again not to get side tracked on what's fair right now, but my point is to establish that sporting bodies/associations have a responsibility to set the rules of their game and if you want to play you have to follow the rules.
While I admire Na Gaeil for having an LGBTQ+ policy I think perhaps they were premature in starting a player that didn't meet the current set of rules. I'm not sure what work the club had done with the LGFA when they introduced their policy, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them stripped of their silverwear as a result of this. That perhaps, as a team, is something they're willing to sacrifice to progress the game, trans rights, and the culture of their club.
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