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.

5 Responses to “It’s just common sense”

Leave a Comment

Subscribe without commenting