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TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has said that he would never consider introducing a ban on transgender people serving in the Irish Defence Forces.
Varadkar made the comment after this week’s announcement by US President Donald Trump that transgender people will no longer be allowed to serve in the US military.
In a series of tweets, Trump said he had made the decision after consultation with his generals and military experts.
He said the military cannot be “burdened with tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail”.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/890196164313833472
When asked about his views on the ban at a press briefing, Varadkar said:
On the transgender ban, it is not something I agree with. It is a domestic policy issue for the United States.
They run their defence forces, we run ours.
“It is not something I would ever consider introducing to Ireland,” he told reporters.
It is unclear how many transgender people currently serve in the Defence Forces in Ireland.
A statement from the Defence Forces said that it is “committed to the principle of equal opportunity in all its employment policies”.
The Defence Forces welcome applications from all members of Irish society, irrespective of sexual orientation or gender.
The Defence Forces launched its own LGBT network, Defend With Pride, in October 2016. It aims to provide “support, information and guidance for LGBT personnel and allies who wish to support colleagues, friends and family”.
According to a report published in 2014 on transgender military service in the US, researchers from the Williams Institute said that transgender people have a larger representation in the military than they do among the general population. Around 15,000 transgender people currently serve in the US military.
‘Resist’
Trump’s announcement was met with immediate condemnation by human rights groups and hundreds of people gathered in New York’s Times Square on Wednesday to protest at an army recruiting station. They held up signs that read ‘Resist’ and heard from speakers who denounced the ban.
[image alt="Trump-Military Transgender" src="http://cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2017/07/trump-military-transgender-3-296x218.jpg" width="296" height="218" title="" class="alignnone" /end]
US visit
Varadkar confirmed that he intends to visit the White House in March and said he would bring up issues that he and Trump may not agree on.
“I am massively sure we will touch on issues such as climate change, such as migration, where we would hold very different views on that world and how it should work,” Varadkar said.
I think the whole point of our relationship, of any relationship between two countries is that we can actually tell the truth to each other and I’ll be doing that.
He also outlined that he would “remind” Trump that 100,000 Americans are employed by Irish companies across 50 States and that “we can grow trade between the two countries without putting up additional barriers”.
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How about transgender folk that don’t get up early?
@Sean Lynch: they’re middle class
@Barry O’Brien: who are middle class. Poor “middle class”. Poorly paid.
@Sean Lynch: how many of our military personnel identify as transgender at the minute? To be honest i wouldnt even say its 10 people.. my opinion (and this is a wild generalization) is that people who identify as trans (and this includes all the lgbt+ letters) tend to not want to join the military so i doubt this will be an issue. Example- “i identify as a woman i want to be roomed and shower etc with the women” imagine a drill Sargeant ala full metal jacket “i don’t give a rats ass if you identify as a horse, im not gonna let you sleep in a stable” – “but they all call me names”
So you’ll defend *everybody’s* right to join the army, but you won’t defend women when it comes to basic healthcare. Well done Leo. Lookin out for the lads as always.
@Veronica: Ahh you’re a real pain in the a$$ Veronica. It’s not all about gender, but I’d be almost certain that leo will give you you ref on the 8th. Now back to bed sweetheart.
@Mark Lawlor: you’re quite right, it’s about sex, not gender.
Abortion is a women issue, and our country doesn’t care.
Transgender people in the army involves men, and all of a sudden the country cares.
@Veronica: You do realize that there are women in the army as well don’t you?
@Brian Ward: yeah. And?
@Billy Roll: i just said that our wonderful Taoiseach is more than happy to speak up when it comes to any issue other than women’s health.
@Veronica: are you against trans people?
Surely a move to back them up here is huge and should be looked on positively
@Veronica: there is a diff in the abortion debate in that a lit of people (men and women) feel the unborn baby should be protected as much as the mother.
That’s where the complication arises with abortion. Nobody is specifically trying to control women as the feminists claim
@gjpb: no im absolutely not, but I think it’s interesting that this will get a solid answer from the lovely Leo but women’s health doesn’t.
@gjpb: women with lives and responsibilities and loved ones should come above a foetus they are hosting, if they decide they don’t want to be pregnant. It absolutely is about controlling women.
I can’t help but feel that back in the day you would also have been complaining about contraception, saying that semen must not be spilled in vain and that it goes against nature to allow women to not birth baby after baby until their bodies give out.
@Mark Lawlor: To be fair, there aren’t nearly enough articles about abortion for Veronica to make her opinions known….
@Lorem Ipsum: and if I did there too you’d also jump on me. No doubt if it was up to you guys I wouldn’t be let online at all.
@Veronica: I’m not saying I’m against abortion but i am smart enough to realise that its a lot more of an emotive topic since many people feel the unborn baby has the right to life.
Plenty of women are against abortion so I am not sure if they want to control women. Stop trying to make it out that its men wanting to control women
@Veronica: I’m not “jumping on” you, I’m laughing at you. Learn the difference
It’s like the difference between real oppression – oppression that actually happens – and the imaginary oppression you experience where your constitutional right to express your opinion is removed somehow by “[my] guys”, whoever that is
@Veronica: Are you a man who hates women who has created this online persona to discredit feminists and make them look stupid?
@Veronica: Murdering Babies is not “healthcare”
@Veronica: Chill out Veronica, we are going to have a ref, it’s a complicated isdue that most ppl want to address. If you keep pushing it in forums like this on articals that don’t have anything to do with it, you’ll come off as angry and obsessed. Yes, our laws on abortion are wrong and need fixing, no there isn’t an anti women plot in all this, the problem is that many of our population, both male and female, see this as a life and death issue and you and I need to respectfully deal with them in a way that can allay those fears where possible. Enjoy, the good in this piece and deal with the 8th when appropriate, or not but that would be counterproductive imho.
@Veronica: how very cis-normative of you, V. Didn’t you know men can have abortions too?
How do they express their gender through clothing if they are all wearing the same thing?
@stefanovich: It doesnt matter what they wear its about how they identify themselves.
@Hupthejaysus: I identify myself as a T-Rrex . Raar
@Billy Roll: you’re not ham, you’re just a bit of processed scrap shaped like a face
The return of the rainbow warrior!
So does the defense forces then pay for the sex change surgery?
@MikejG: no. The HSE will pay for that.
@David Murphey: So tax payers pay for a procedure done outside of the state? Ya??
@MikejG: yes. Look it up.
There are already a number of transgender individuals in the defence forces and i for one am glad im no longer in the PDF as i would not serve with a mentally unstable person who requires hormone therapy to stay in a happy mental state.
@jimmy haribo: Bigotry is mentally unstable
@Peadar Rooney: learn the difference between an argument and abuse.
Never is a word that should not be used. It will come back to haunt the Taoiseach.
@Paul Coughlan: So never use never? :)
I wonder what percentage of applicants that would apply to?
@Scundered: all of them, I’d say.
Does that mean pansie bliss is joining the army now…
@rory2u: panti bliss isn’t trans, he’s a drag queen. Difference being he knows that being a woman is more than performing femininity.
@Billy Roll: im not against trans people at all, why on earth would you think that??
@Billy Roll: how’s that? You mean caring about women and the fact that our country denies them a very specific form of health care? Soz bbz, I don’t plan on not caring about women any time soon.
@Veronica: You seem so bitter that trans rights have been protected
@rory2u: He’s probably over the maximum age but there was never a ban on anyone joining
@Billy Roll: Also lol, my “attitude is all wrong”, and yet you take the pi$$ by saying you identify as a ham.
@Veronica: congrats. You have managed to turn a good news story about trans rights toxic with your sexist agenda
@gjpb: I believe I just made two very innocent comments before you got so offended that you had to spam me with comments.
Besides, considering you and your lot insist on filling articles about women with your complaints that men aren’t discussed. All I did was point out that Leo doesn’t give a hoot about women but will make a “strong stance” on something that affects a very tiny proportion of the population.
Maybe you could work harder at not getting so offended by what you read online?
Sure why would he? He,s practically one himself.
@Dermot Keogh: Well that’s simply not true.
@Dermot Keogh: This country is F**ked
If Varadkar said Ban the defense forces.That might have been a worthwhile statement
@Macc Dan: Their work overseas with the UN and EU are one of the few positive things this country contributes to the greater good (and of course us bailing out private bondholders who should have been burned). The fact that Ireland stayed neutral during WW2 closed alot of doors for this country and still is a dark shadow over us in my opinion.
@Darren Mccarthy: could you give some examples of the sort of doors our neutrality closed?
@Fenster: After the bombing of Pearl Harbour Churchill sent Dev a telegram promising unification if Ireland joined the fight. The support that we enjoined from Irish Americans diminished somewhat after we didn’t fight with them after that attack. Remember we were the only English speaking nation not to fight the nazis and were still part of the commonwealth at the time. Along with the Irish government sending their condolences to the nazi government on hitlers death….come on man. Do you think we didn’t have doors closed for not fighting against the scourge of humanity?
@Darren Mccarthy: I strongly believe Dev was a pr!ck but neutrality was one of the few good things he did. Do you really think Churchill would have allowed reunification after the war?
@Darren Mccarthy: nobody is neutral nowadays, Ireland is in name only, just look at Shannon…
@Darren Mccarthy: so the door that closed was a vague promise of unification from an untrustworthy (former) enemy? In what ways did this somewhat diminished support from the US manifest itself? And what were these doors that closed? you said there was a lot, but you haven’t mentioned any yet
@Fenster: The chance of reunification pre troubles is a pretty big door i would of taught. Churchill was a massive pr1ck but he was pro reunification. Have a read of the ‘Neutral Island’ when you have time….
@Darren Mccarthy: the govt at the time has to make a decision, and not getting back into bed with the enemy they just ousted was probably a good one at the time but in hindsight could br seen differently for sure
Any more of these ‘lots of closed doors’ you’d like to share?
@Darren Mccarthy: sad that ireland never went to war or invaded the mid east or africa,.
we had the orange order to deal with no wonder we stayed neutral.
This is a non issue. Leo is virtue signalling as there are currently zero transgenders in the DF.
Transgendered people are among the most susceptible to suicide in the country. A 2011 survey by the National Transgender Discrimination Survey (NTDS) found 41% of transgender people had attempted suicide in the U.S., compared with the mere 4.6% average national attempted suicide rate. A survey by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America found 30% of U.S. veterans have considered suicide, and 45% said they know an Iraq or Afghanistan veteran who has attempted suicide. So why give these mentally unstable people access to weaponry.
@jimmy haribo: americans just love weapons ..
Leo the media guru coming through with his lovely Trudeau-sequel sound bite.
Maybe the government is advocating that they should all be paid less as women.
That’s all very well, Mr Varadkar, but where are you going to barrack them? If they have a ding-dong and a Y chromosome then they bunk with the boys.
Equal opportunities? Not in all aspects of the Navy as it is I’m afraid. Leo looking for brownie points. They’re pulling the cart before the horse as always
Typical, more irrelevant PC crap..
@Veronica: I’m a straight divorced man. I just read this out of a mixture of curiosity and boredom. Some witty remarks etc respect to the trans serviice person who posted a comment. Sorry forgot your name. No disrespect intended to you or the trans community but I have to say I find Veronicas comment the most concise and to the point and the truth is there are far more women than transgender people, including straight bi lesbian and transgender women but the far greater majority of women and in my opinion everyone without personal health insurance is a disgrace and that resources should be directed at the vast majority and that special interests groups should receive subsidised private insurance related to income. Absolutely no idea why I just went off on that rant but I stick by what I said
Who was even dumb enough to ask him such an irrelevant question , or is it himself making stupid statements
have your say