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Mrs Diane Dodds: Assembly records
All of Mrs Diane Dodds’s imported questions, contributions and motions in this mandate, newest first, including those assessed as not qualifying, uncertain or not yet analysed.
That is why it is really important to have the debate and look at the Bill as a whole, so that we understand what the Bill could impose on families in Northern Ireland. I was thinking about legislation when thinking about the Bill. In examining any Bill, it is important to ask whether the draft legislation is…
I thank the Member for his intervention and for expanding the point, which is really important. I think that the Sinn Féin Member opposite, who is no longer in her seat, just wanted to shout the word "homophobia" and nothing else. That is a pity because I have tried my best to make my contribution to the debate with…
That is a really important point, and it is at the heart of what we are doing here. We are debating legislation, and the Member is proposing clauses to a Bill that will criminalise people on the basis of something that is subjective and changing. That is no basis for legislation.
Given that a lot of the information I have read refers to multiple genders and changing genders etc, that is a non-answer and evasion by proposer of the Bill. When we consider legislation that will potentially criminalise parents, teachers, pastors, youth leaders, football team coaches — everybody and anybody; even…
Before I give way, the proposer of the Bill has been asked a question about the issue of gender identity and how many genders he considers there to be. I am happy to give way to the proposer of the Bill if he wants to answer that question and have it on the record.
Thank you for the clarification. In my remarks, I was referring to clause 6, which is very important and embeds in law concepts that we have not had before. It is important, and it is worthy of our exploration and our debate.
No. Sorry, I was going to sit down, but no. Further commentary on the Bill is provided by the Women's Rights Network. The Women's Rights Network is well known for its views on safe spaces for women and on the fact that sex is immutable and unchangeable, so I am a woman and will always be one. That is important to…
QualifyingCriteria met: Dog-whistle messaging.Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues
No; not for a minute. I need to make a bit of progress. The Bill leaves an enormous amount of room for that to happen. Parents could be caught by any of those things in the Bill. Does the intent of "changing or suppressing" relate to "counselling", "talking therapy" and "coaching or instruction"? Those are important…
I do not agree, and I do not agree for a very specific reason. Look at clause 1, which states that a person commits an offence if that person: "carries out conversion therapy in relation to another person ("the victim")" — or — "has the intent of changing or suppressing the sexual orientation or gender identity of the…
No: I will in a moment, but I want to finish. Are we willing to criminalise a parent for setting boundaries or a church pastor for having conversations about faith and biblical living? Those are fundamental issues.
I absolutely agree. When we think of the trauma of such a situation, we have to think of the trauma of the young person. All sides will have difficult emotions to face. The question that the Assembly must ask itself, when we consider the role of parents and the impact of this legislation, is this: are we willing to…
I am not aware, but I am happy to take a clarification from the Bill sponsor. It is in poor taste to query such an eminent person and his opinion of the Bill. Mr O'Neill further says that the Bill would establish landmark "gender self-identification" in law in Northern Ireland and that that self-declared identity…
The Member might want to take that up with him. It is hard to hear some of the issues that are being raised about the Bill. I know the Bill sponsor well, and he knows me. He knows that I am not out to hurt, destroy or demean anyone, but we must tell the truth about the legislation. We must discuss what is in the Bill,…
I presume that Aidan O'Neill KC, one of Scotland's leading lawyers — lawyer of the year, last year, I think — would not produce a brief for anybody that he did not believe reflected what was in the legislation.
I thank the Member. It is really important, on a day when we are all being lectured about equality, that equality is not just for those who take a particular view on conversion therapy or gender identity but for the parents who have brought up their children in a Christian home, who want to live by those values and…
Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. If I recall correctly, just before the break for Question Time, we had been talking about the issue of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) and the lack of an equality impact assessment (EQIA). It may be useful at this stage if I give way to the sponsor of the…
Let me proceed, because I have only a few minutes before the break. I promise that we can all discuss it in great detail thereafter. I was also interested in the Member's explanation for the lack of an equality impact assessment of the Bill. Like the Member, I have been following some of the commentary on the Bill.…
That is absolutely correct. The Bill leads us, as parents and, for me now, as a grandparent, into a situation where we could be subjected to legal proceedings by the police and courts for what many of us deem to be normal parenting of our children. That might not be the Member's intent in the Bill, but it is important…
The Member is right. Part of the issue around the draconian legislation leads me to clause 9, where the Bill says that, in pursuit of those offences — I want to develop the point about the way in which this will be prosecuted — there is: "No right to claim trial by jury". That is fairly draconian legislation.
I thank the Member for his contribution. However, in my reading of the Bill, which I have spent many hours doing over the past weeks and days, I do not think that any of those things are particularly clear, set out or evident from what is actually in the Bill. In many ways, the Bill is quite draconian in its attitude…