Sinn Fein Push Child Transgender Bill In Seanad!

A bill to allow gender changes for under 16's without parental consent is at stage 3 in the Seanad! We have none other than Fintan "Flaming" Warfield to thank for it.

A Bill to allow children of any age to change gender without parental consent has reached the third stage in the Seanad .

The Bill will amend the Gender Recognition Act 2015 to provide legal gender recognition for children of any age without parental consent , and includes a provision to allow children to identify as non-binary (neither male or female) in the future .

The Bill entitled "the Gender Recognition (Amendment) Act 2017" originated in the Seanad and was put forward by Senator Fintan Warfield of Sinn Fein ,Grace O'Sullivan of the Green Party and Independent Senator David Norris .

Section 12 of the Gender Recognition Act is amended as follows :

Nothing in this Act shall be interpreted as barring the Court from making an order under this section for the sole reason that a child has not reached the age of 16 years

In relation to parental consent , a new subsection will give the Court ultimate power to decide the best interests of the Child rather than the parent

the Court shall consider whether the refusal of the person to provide consent under subsection (4) is inconsistent with the best interests of the child

The Court shall ensure that where a child is capable of forming his or her own views, the views of the child shall be ascertained and given due weight having regard to the age, maturity and evolving capacities of the child

Section 7 is to be amended by the insertion of the following paragraph allowing for non binary gender recognitions in the future

ensure that the review of the operation of this Act specifically considers the possibility of providing legal gender recognition to persons who have a preferred gender which is neither man/male nor female/woman

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