Ryan Tubridy said he hopes that Dublin Pride might reconsider its decision to end its media partnership with RTÉ.
The decision to cut ties with RTE came after a Liveline caller on Monday said they believe the term ‘woman’ should be removed from the Maternity Act in order to make it inclusive of those who choose not to identify as a woman but who want to give birth.
Speaking this morning Tubridy said LiveLine is there to ‘inform the ignorant’ and that he himself hopes to ‘learn from it all.’
He continued by saying: “I don’t think I can think of an organisation more committed to what they do than RTÉ, that’s the truth.”
“Down through the years, that would be my observation, few organisations [have been] left wanting in their support, broadly speaking for the LGBTQ+ community.
“And Liveline is a programme that indulges in robust debate, and I think the world needs robust debate and sometimes in the course of robust debate, you might not like what you hear, and you might find some opinions odious, and you might find some opinions correct.
“I would hope that Pride might reconsider because we respect what you do and what they do tremendously.”
The segment on LiveLine sparked a much larger debate with people taking to Twitter to state their outrage.
One person wrote: “Had to turn @rteliveline off, so so sick of this conversation. The fact that the word woman is being taken out of maternity legislation is disgusting and shocking.”
Another tweeted in support of the change: “If women discussing their rights is transphobic then it confirms there is a clash between women’s rights and trans rights. This needs to be sorted out. Ireland has treated its women with scorn and derision since the beginning of time. It stops here.”
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