Ireland passed a hate crime bill that includes transgender ideology.
Ireland’s Criminal Justice Bill passed the Dáil Éireann legislature by 78 to 52 votes. It may now be signed into law.
Under the bill, a “hate crime” is defined as a person taking action against one’s “protected characteristics,” which include race, color, nationality, religion, ethnicity, descent, gender, sexual characteristics, sexual orientation, and disability.
“Gender” is defined as the “gender of a person or the gender which a person expresses as the person’s preferred gender or with which the person identifies and includes transgender and a gender other than those of male and female.”
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee celebrated the bill, saying, “We are determined to stamp out hate-motivated crimes and we are determined to protect vulnerable communities.”
“It is not acceptable that some people live in fear simply because of who they are. Ireland is one of the last countries in the EU not to have specific hate crime offences set out in law,” McEntee added. “I am delighted to have been able to bring this legislation through the Houses to protect vulnerable and minority groups from harm.”
Hermann Kelly, leader of the Irish Freedom Party, called the bill an “unconstitutional move away from equality of all citizens before the law.”
A previous version of the bill criminalized hate speech. When the hate speech provision was dropped from the bill, American professor Michael Shellenberger called the development a “massive free speech victory.”
“Ireland’s government has abandoned its proposed hate speech law, which would have allowed the police to enter homes and search phones and computers for wrongthink,” he wrote on X last month. “This is wonderful news that gives us momentum to beat back totalitarianism worldwide!”
