So, a gaggle of self-appointed defenders of the Roman Catholic faith have decided to try to halt the Civil Partnership Bill currently before the houses of the Oireachtas. Let’s just take a moment to reflect on their words to describe it: jargon such as “moral” and “immoral,” “natural law,” “care of souls.”

IWD raises awareness around the real experiences of women in the world. It highlights achievements, but also the oppression of half the human population, for reasons solely of their gender. Feminism, based on the fundamental principles of equality, solidarity and human rights is needed for the benefit of all in society.

The newly formed Stop Conversion Therapy Taskforce (SCOTT) protested an ex-gay conference held in Ballynahinch, County Down.
The group was founded by gay investigative journalist Patrick Strudwick who sought to discover the methods used by those therapists who claim they can cure the gay, by presenting himself as seeking to be rid of his homosexuality.  In [...]

UK schools secretary Ed Balls has tabled an amendment to the Children, Schools and Families Bill that allows faith schools to teach sex education “in a way that reflects the school’s religious character”. This would give schools the freedom to teach about issues such as sexuality in a way that is consistent with their religion rather than taking the government’s position.

A couple UK studies with very disturbing results in the news yesterday.
One, a study of 89 11 and 12 year-old children in several Glasgow schools, showed that in many cases, the children thought a man hitting a woman was justified if she had done something wrong. Virtually all the children thought it was acceptable to [...]

Today I reported on LezGetReal that Tullow Oil, an international but Irish-founded oil company, has invested USD 1.35 billion in Uganda’s oil interests.
Billion dollar investments in African fossil fuels are not the kind of news that we normally cover here at Gaelick, but bear with me. Remember back in October, when Gooner reported on the [...]

The Dáil is to resume its debate on the Civil Partnership Bill 2009 this Wednesday, 27th January 2010. (It is scheduled to take place at some point between 11:29am and 1:30pm, although first to be debated in that time-slot will be two other bills.) A Live Blog has again been set up, and we hope to embed the stream to the live Oireachtas video to allow readers to follow the debate.

MamanPoulet brings us the news that Minister Martin Cullen, as a guest speaker at a seminar on defamation, described the media intrusion he experienced over false allegations concerning Monica Leech as akin to “rape.” Apparently, he said that the media treatment he received was “like waking up every morning and being raped.” Really?

The Dáil is to resume its debate on the Civil Partnership Bill 2009 this Thursday, 21st January 2010. (It is scheduled to take place at some point between 10:30am and 3:30pm, although first to be debated in that time-slot will be the Adoption Bill.) A Live Blog has again been set up, and we hope to embed the stream to the live Oireachtas video to allow readers to follow the debate.

As you may have read or heard on today’s lunchtime news bulletins, Minister for Health Mary Harney has done a U-turn and announced that the cervical cancer vaccine will now be rolled out. This is after announcing the vaccination scheme in August of 2008, but then cancelling the whole thing due to budget cuts.