LGBTQ+ activist Izzy Kamikaze has published a powerful article, revealing further background and detail surrounding the anti-Trans debate on RTÉ radio show Liveline which prompted Dublin Pride to “terminate its media partnership with RTÉ”.

In the article published yesterday on the Beacon website, Izzy explained why she felt the three-day debate had been an orchestrated campaign by the organisation The Countess, a campaign group ‘advocating for women and children in Ireland’.

After outlining the premise for what she described as “three shows jam-packed with conspiracy theories of institutional capture by Big Trans and legislation somehow being passed in secret”, Izzy went on to describe how Joe Duffy, the show’s presenter, had “joined a member of The Countess in scoffing at the NWCI’s [National Women’s Council of Ireland] supplied statement that it had a ‘duty of care’ to ensure that participants and speakers feel safe.”

Asserting that “Liveline’s ‘crime’ is outright manipulation of the facts,” she went on to refer to a press release that she says The Countess put out ahead of attempting to attend the NCWI meeting. 

In the press release, Izzy suggests that the group had deliberately set out to undermine the appointment of the chair of TENI Sara Philips to the NCWI’s board also maintaining that Joe Duffy and his researchers should have been aware of this. 

Quoting the statement, she wrote, “‘The Countess, a Women and Children’s advocacy group alongside Women’s Space Ireland and various women’s rights activists will be staging an action at the AGM of the national women’s council today in protest at the re-election of a father of three called Sara Phillips onto their board’, the statement began.”

After identifying how the press release signalled The Countess’s intention to disrupt the NCWI’s meeting and therefore justified the NCWI’s right to ban the group from the meeting, she said, “This is a very unusual press release. I am a veteran LGBTQIA+ movement activist with a long history of involvement in non-violent direct action, but I’ve never drafted such a press release or even seen one because nobody announces that kind of action in advance for the obvious reason: If you do so, you will not get to protest because you will not be allowed in.” 

Mick Barry TD raised the #LiveLyin Liveline hoax in the Dáil last night. The Minister believes the best way to deal with this is through the regulatory mechanisms. My own complaint will rest, not on content ("free speech") but failure to research the extremists hijacking the show https://t.co/Y63Ct3fwAC

— 🏳️‍🌈 Just Izzy 🏳️‍⚧️🦕🦖 (@IzzyKamikaze) June 22, 2022

Before addressing the cancellation of the Oireachtas hearing into the debate, Izzy provided an in-depth interrogation into the backgrounds of some of the members of The Countess and how she believes they have used the Liveline show to have their views “uncritically amplified — and even advertised for free”

In the article, Izzy also urges the public to contact members of the Oireachtas committee asking them to renew the invitation and also suggests that Complaints to RTÉ are “very much in order.” 

The full article by Izzy Kamikaze about the RTÉ controversy can be read here.