An international organisation that supports transgender rights has praised activists in Ireland for passing legislation “under the radar” by “latching trans rights legislation on to more popular legal reforms (eg marriage equality), rather than taking more combative, public-facing approaches”.
IGLYO, a network of 96 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex youth and student organisations, published a report last month on the current state of transgender laws and advocacy in eight European countries. LGBT group BelongTo Youth Services provided input from Ireland.
The report concluded that other countries should learn lessons from Ireland to avoid the type of rancorous public debates prevalent in other jurisdictions. “The legislation [the Gender Recognition Act] went under the radar in Ireland because marriage equality was gaining the most focus,” it found. “In a way, this was helpful according to the activists, because it meant that they were able to focus on persuading politicians that the change was necessary.”
