It’s just common sense
Sigh.
People need to cop on over trans issue, urges Mary Lou McDonald
Mary Lou McDonald has urged “calm, cop-on and common sense” on transgender policy, warning against division as Sinn Fein prepares to revise its gender identity stance.
The Sinn Fein leader criticised a “limited but loud” group in society that had sought to “divide, to demonise and marginalise” others — rhetoric which she said sparked a growing sense of fear within Ireland’s LGBTQ+ community.
Ah, ok, that kind of calm, cop-on and common sense – the kind that says men are women if they say they are, and women have to shut up and welcome them as sisters. I don’t really consider it common sense to think that men can be women, but whatever. (If it’s really common sense why hasn’t everyone always known it?)
“Any policy-making has to be cognisant of the legal and of the medical advice, the advice from a chief medical officer. You have to be because you’re dealing with children,” McDonald said, highlighting concerns about the drugs’ effect on bone density and cognitive and reproductive function as central to policy development.
Well which is it? Common sense, or being up to speed with the legal and medical advice? They’re hardly the same thing.
On contentious topics such as trans people’s access to single-sex bathrooms or appropriate placement in prisons, McDonald advocated a case-by-case approach focused on safety: “The first concern has to be the safety of the person and the people who are being detained by the state. I think if you come through that prism on a case-by-case basis, that’s how you get that right,” she said.
Wtf does that mean? Why would letting some men be in women’s prisons be the straight and narrow path to getting that right? How about no?
McDonald said her leadership style was to avoid rushing decisions. “I’m extremely assertive, I can take things on. I’m no shrinking violet at all, but I’m also a very thoughtful person, I reflect on things, and I assess things, and in my long political experience, I would say that, for the most part, the most essential ingredient in getting to the right position is actually around taking a bit of time and coming at things calmly.”
You bet. As the man’s hands tighten on your throat you must take a bit of time and come at things calmly. You must also be very smug about your own getting to the right position skills.

A fair amount of the older Sinn Féin members would mix strongly anti-British views with traditional Roman Catholic opinions. They would not be supportive of the ” LGBTQ+ stuff” at all.
Funny, that sounds just like trans activism.
She’d be right at home on this issue in the UK Labour Party.
Naturally, what this ignores is that we got into this situation by rushing to a decision in the first place. Instead of analyzing the claims and demands of the trans community individually and rationally, they were accepted whole-cloth and without any critique allowed, and now we’ve got a hot mess.
We could have come to a reasonable middle-ground, if that hadn’t happened–something similar to how we accommodate other religious claims without, generally, yielding to their demands (not saying we’re perfect at it, just that we got to a place that was pretty solid for awhile). But by jumping to the point of total capitulation, the pro-trans contingent has created an untenable situation.
As to common sense, I laughed out loud when I was reading Rene Descartes’ “Discourse on the Method,” and ran across his assessment of common sense. He wrote something to the effect of, “Common sense must be the most abundant thing in the world, because nobody ever wants more of it than they already have.”
Also reminds me of my favorite Rene Descartes joke: Rene Descartes is drinking in a bar. Eventually, the barman calls for closing time. Barman: “Would you like one more for the road?” Descartes: [hesitates] “I think not.” And =POOF!= he disappears.
Golly, who does that sound like? T and their allies are a small, very vocal group, who have done nothing but divide society, demonize women and anyone who supports women’s rights, and have done their damnedest to marginalize anyone and everyone who dared to dissent from the trans religion. Hereticsare to be excommunicated from society.
Wait a minute . . . WHAT “LGBTQ+community”? Forced teaming strikes again. There is no community of interest between LGB and T+++. T+++ are antagonist, downright hostile to LGB. And T+++ deserves to feel a little fear. After the campaign of terror they have conducted against the whole of society, for over a decade, they should be concerned. It’s the fear that bullies feel when their victims fight back.
Well, duh. By all means, think of the children. Think of the medical expertise that has called into question the trans medicalization of children, and the drugs’ deleterious effects on kids’ bone density, cognitive development, and sexual function. Be cognizant of legal advice, too, such as the UK Supreme Court decision, that sex means sex. Make policy based on those things.
Take your own advice. Focus on safety. Check. Take a case-by-case approach: okay, let’s do that. Here’s a “trans person” who wants to access single-sex bathrooms or prisons. Case-by-case — in this case, which sex is the “trans person”? Is the trans person of the male sex? Ok, in this case he should use the men’s room or be sent to the men’s prison. If there’s an issue of safety, (1) have the man (“transgender woman”) call upon allies for support if he fears being attacked in the men’s room, or (2) have the department of corrections make a separate unit for trans-identified male prisoners, just as they put child molesters or former law enforcement prisoners in protected units. Presto! Case-by-case determination. Is the “trans person” of the female sex? Okay, in this case, the “trans person” should use the women’s bathroom or be incarcerated in the women’s prison. There you go: case-by-case decisions, with safety as the main consideration. Job done.
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