Letters

Not all gays feel protected by hate speech Bill

If gay people’s free speech had been curtailed in the 1980s, would rights have been won?

Thu Jun 22 2023 - 09:00

Sir, – In the Seanad debate on the proposed Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022 on June 13th, Senator Annie Hoey (Labour) used her entire 12 minutes to talk about how hard and scary it is to be LGBT+ in Ireland.

As a young lesbian, I can confidently say that this is utterly false. We enjoy all the rights that anyone else has in this country and have done so since 2015. LGBT+ people, NGOs and lobby groups are celebrated and consulted by our Government at every turn. In what way are our lives in Ireland hard and scary? Are we to ignore the persecution gay people face around the globe?

We all understand the importance of preventing and prosecuting hate crimes. However, this Bill also proposes to criminalise any speech or materials which may be seen to have the potential to incite hatred or violence.

Without a clear definition of what constitutes “hate”, we are left with a scenario where hatred is subjective and down to an individual’s own perception.

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If gay people’s free speech had been illegal in the 1980s, would we have been able to win the rights we enjoy today? Would we have been able to defend our rights, when such rights would have been deemed blasphemous or hateful toward the Catholic Church?

I have been called hateful, right wing and have even been told I am contributing to “trans genocide” merely for saying that I am same-sex attracted and therefore do not have sexual relationships with people born male.

In Norway, a country that recently brought in similar speech-restricting laws, a young woman called Christina Ellingsen has faced criminal investigation for simply tweeting that men cannot be lesbians.

Is this the fate that awaits me and other lesbians, gays and bisexual people for saying we cannot choose our sexuality? Not all gays feel protected by this Bill. Not all gays agree with our community being used as a tool to promote the suffocation of free speech. – Yours, etc,

ANNAIG BIRDY,

Dublin 8.