Madam, - I find it interesting that on the same day you took Ian Paisley jnr to task for his "homophobic remarks", you appear to have no issue with your columnist Ann Marie Hourihane expressing her own transphobic feelings in Saturday's Weekend Review (June 2nd).
Ms Hourihane took issue with the decision of the State Examinations Commission and the Department of Education to reissue examination certificates to a transsexual in their new name and gender.
Ms Hourihane makes much of the fact that the woman was a male when she sat the examinations in question.
She seems to entirely miss the point that, given her condition, while the woman may have been physically male at the time, she would have been psychologically female. When we sit examinations, it was my understanding that we compose our responses with our minds and not our physical genitalia.
To compare a transsexual's desire to correct their historic records with someone who chooses the wrong wedding dress is quite frankly insulting.
If such commentary were targeted in the direction of a disabled person, a non-national, a Traveller, a homosexual, etc there would be a national outcry. Of course, transsexuals are fair game, as for so long we have been voiceless and the subject of ridicule, bigotry and intolerance.
There is, of course, much more at stake here than avoiding some embarrassing sniggers at the interview, as she suggests.
Most transsexuals find it difficult to source employment at all. There is also the danger of outright verbal and often physical assault.
Is it any wonder, then, that so many of us desire to blend back into society and live our lives in peace?
Unfortunately those of us who do live in constant fear of the day we must "out" ourselves by having to use our birth certificate or examination certificates.
Or worse, should we attract the unwanted attention of some "journalist" who feels it is in the public interest to splash our personal history all over the front pages.
Ms Hourihane should bear in mind that such opinion pieces do influence and inflame the discrimination and bigotry we face. Perhaps she could make more of an effort to do some research before she takes on her next topic? - Yours, etc,
VICTORIA MULLEN, Chairperson, Transgender Equality Network Ireland, Capel Street, Dublin 2.