Trio of groups write to Assembly speaker wondering if it is permissable to ask how many gender identities there are
Three different groups have written to the Assembly speaker’s office in an attempt to clarify whether or not MLAs are able to interrogate the term “gender identity”.
Genspect, the Free Speech Union, and the Christian Institute have penned the joint open letter after deputy principal speaker Caral Ni Chuilin silenced a comment about how many genders the new Conversion Therapy Bill applies to.
The bill, from the Alliance Party’s Eoin Tennyson, would criminalise people who seek to alter someone’s self-declared gender identity.
When Jonathan Buckley sought to ask Mr Tennyson how many genders this applies to, Ms Ni Chuilin – who lists her own pronouns on social media as “sí/she” alongside a trans pride flag – said: “It is self-determined, so it is not for Eoin Tennyson or anyone else to talk about how many genders there are.”
She stressed that she was not giving her own “personal opinion” but was referring to the nature of “gender identity” as written into the bill: namely, that it is something self-determined.
She also said that she was “not stopping political debate or trying to censor anyone”.
A subsequent attempt to ask much the same question of Sinn Fein MLA Emma Sheerin was similarly halted by deputy speaker John Blair.
The three groups above have now written to the speaker’s office to say: “Given the significant public interest in this bill, we would welcome clear guidance from the chair confirming that members may probe both the meaning and the scope of ‘gender identity’ as used in the bill.”
Transgender activists believe there are not two but many genders, including such things as neutrois, genderqueer, two-spirit, and pangender.
In response to their open letter, a spokesperson for the Assembly referred the News Letter to comments made previously by the speaker, Edwin Poots: “Members will know that a second stage debate needs to relate to the bill and that they must craft their remarks to comply with that.
"I also remind members of the clarity that deputy speaker Blair provided to the house last week when he said that the Bill had 11 clauses and that the debate should relate to its principles.
"That is what the second stage debate is.
"The bill includes references to gender identity.
"Discussion of gender identity is therefore permissible in the context of the bill.
"Some members may have attempted to raise issues about the position of other parties rather than about the bill.
“A number of members discussed gender identity without intervention from the chair.
"The position that gender identity can be discussed in the debate on the Conversion Practices (Criminalisation) Bill is therefore clear, as deputy speaker Blair outlined.
"However, members need to comply with the normal rules about linking their remarks to the bill in front of them.”
The Assembly statement then went on to add: “While those in the chair have to make a judgment on individual instances in the specific circumstances, the issue of gender identity has been discussed throughout the debate on the bill when members have raised it in line with the ruling above.
"The debate has not yet concluded, and a number of members remain to be called to contribute.”
It said that if the bill passes its second stage it will be pored over by MLAs in committee, before returning for more “detailed scrutiny” thereafter.
"Members on all sides of the Assembly will have significant opportunity to raise issues on behalf of their constituents in that time,” it concluded.