"With Maria Steen in the race, her culture-warrior followers would have dragged the presidential contest into a debate about transgenderism"
""I was opposed to her election, which might very well have happened, in my view. It would have been divisive and a step backwards for the kind of Ireland I believe in.""
"Here's another way of putting it. In declining to support Steen, McDowell saved us not just from a "step backwards" in the Áras, but from our first "can a woman have a penis?" election."
Michael McDowell declined to nominate Maria Steen for the presidency because he believed her election would have been divisive and a step backwards for the kind of Ireland he supports. Maria Steen's culture-warrior supporters risked steering the presidential contest into a heated national debate about transgenderism and gender identity. By refusing to back Steen, McDowell avoided a campaign dominated by polarizing questions about trans bodies and rights, including sensationalized framing such as whether a woman can have a penis. The decision removed a potential flashpoint from the presidential race.
Read at Independent
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