March 24, 2026 • 16 mins
Today we're shining a light on the activist work of Irish feminist Ailbhe Smyth.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha, and welcome to stuff.
I never told your production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Okay, I am on the mend.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
If you've been listening in real time, it is March
twenty fourth, twenty twenty six, the season of allergies.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
And yes, my voice is.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Still pretty creepy and squeaky, so adorable. But the show
must go on. We did try to take a pause,
but we're continuing on and and it seems I am
on an Irish cook It is like around Saint Patrick's day,
so it feels appropriate. There are clovers everywhere. I've not
(00:51):
found a four leaf clover though, that's really looking. Yes
I have, have you I don't think so you've never
found one.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I don't think I have. I'm my cursed.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
That makes me sad for you. Oh no, we'll have
to figure it out.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
We'll have a party because I have several patches of
clovers in my backyard, so we'll bring you over here
and we'll look. But anyway, with all of that, yes,
I am on an Irish content kick, because we've got
two Irish related episodes within this week. Again, I know
not everybody listens within this time, but just saying if
you spout stumble upon this one. No. Within the same way,
(01:29):
we recorded a second content with Irish related subject matter. Yeah,
I really need to go to there. I would really
like to go.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
To there, to be honest, it's beautiful. I want to
see some puffins. I know you can see.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
I know there's puffins everywhere else as well at other places,
but there are islands with puffins that people like.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Help to fly. I want to go to there.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Maybe one day, one day, somebody somebody sent me to
see the puffins in Ireland please, But anyway, yes, and
for today we are talking about the works and activism
of the feminist icon in Ireland.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Alba Smith.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
So, yes, her name is spelt very Gaelic, I believe,
and so it took me a minute to figure out
how to say it.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
It's not smithe Smith. I did figure that out, just
everybody knows.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
So she is a known writer, academic, queer and feminist
activist who's still advocating for the marginalized community today.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
And she has talked about.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Her journey in feminism and how she began to get
take interest in the women's movements when she started college.
But honestly, she also talks about the back of that
you know as a woman naturally, which you would think
it's naturally, but that's what you've talked about before, it's not,
which made me very sad. But she's always had some
interest in women's rights and women's equality and understood the
(02:59):
depth of needed in that type of movement. I do
find her very interesting because she is if there is
a rating system for radicalists, she is probably pretty radical
in most people's books, because she really comes out swinging
and talking about how capitalism is also a part of
the downfall of equality, and if you've listened to our show,
(03:23):
we also have understood that concept as well.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Love everything about this.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
But anyway back to she has referenced the women's liberation
movement in the seventies and how seeing all of this
has kind of made her into this activist seeing the
need and also ident'ty finding her own identity has led
her to this point as well. Again, she saw the
(03:49):
need for change not only for women but for the
LGBTQIA plus community and has been something that she has
been very vocal about in her activism. She identifies as
a lesbian and has done so a belief since the
nineties eighties, so not necessarily later in life. I want
to say midlife is when she kind of like, oh,
this is who I am.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
This makes sense to me.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Her own life has been a whorldwind of activism, continue
to grow again in her advocacy, but something that she
talks about that has been somewhat lonely and painful. I
couldn't imagine, because the seventies eighties, being a radical feminist
could probably be very isolating for a very Catholic, old school,
traditional area. So in an article written about her by
(04:33):
The Cut quotes her saying this, when I started this work,
it created what I called a Siberian wind which would
blow between me and certain family members, certain friends. Also
in the late nineteen nineties, I came out as a
lesbian in Ireland, at least at the time, being a feminist,
pro choice lesbian really did not win you a lot
of friends. I felt quite isolated, like I've been branded
(04:54):
as a radical, which I don't have a problem with really.
I just happened to have always thought abortion is not
a particularly radical thing to be asking for, because every
single day there is something between ten to twelve women
that have to go to England for an abortion, which
is a terrible thing to have to do, and there
are two or three more women every day who take
the abortion pill without having the safety net of medical
(05:15):
care or medical supervision if something goes wrong. It was
often quite difficult dealing with friends and family members who
didn't understand I have some painful memories, which even now
I don't particularly want to talk about, is still painful.
And I hate that we're coming back into the same conversation.
(05:37):
And I will say, and I'm going to mention it
again later. Some of the articles that I'm mentioning are
like are old articles, like eight to ten years old.
But I thought it fascinating once again because you can
see kind of the cyclical looks of where we were
and where we are today, and I'm like, oh, could
we not go back to that? But anyway, her intersectional
(05:58):
advocacy work is fast. She's been feed by different organizations
for her work. Again, one specific issue that's always been
very vocal about has been reproductive rights, and in the
seventies eighties she worked with organizations to post things like
the eighth Amendment in the Irish Constitution, which was the
all right abortion ban placed on the Irish people. They
call it the Catholic It was a Catholic law slash
(06:21):
pro life law.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So obviously, again.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
From that cut article, they quote her saying I've campaigned
for Irish women's rights, including abortion rights, since I was
quite a young woman in the nineteen seventies. I'm seventy
two now again an older article, and I had the
coalition to repeal the Eighth Amendment.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
The eighth Amendment is the.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Clause to our constitution that prohibits abortion, and we're looking
at a referendum at the end of this week when
we hope to repeal it.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
So this was.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Again I believe, done in twenty eighteen when they were
first talking about repealing that amendment, and they did so
while there's still pretty strict regulations placed on reproductive rights,
less strict than.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Than hours in Georgia. So you know, congrats.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
With the help of activists like Smith and the organization
she chaired at the time, together for Yes, they were
able to replace some of the language of the Eighth Amendment,
giving more broader care for the irishwomen. So this is
a bit from wave dash Network dot org. Since nineteen
eighty three, when the Eighth Amendment was inserted into the
Constitution after a referendum. Smith has fought against the amendment,
(07:27):
effectively prohibits abortion, placing the rights of the unborn and
the mother on equal footing. Since then, about one hundred
and seventy thousand irishwomen have traveled to other countries, especially
to the UK, to obtain abortions. Five years ago, Smith
formed the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment to strengthen
the public debates on the issue and pushed for referendum
(07:48):
and finally in twenty eighteen, this long fight ended with
a victory. So they really did some amazing work. In
this conversation that's specific look at what had happened was
not about Smith specifically, but it featured her as in
her organization that she chaired, as being the head of
(08:10):
the reason of why it actually worked.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
So I thought it was very significant.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Another organization she chaired, National LGBT Federation, also helped to
work for the rights of the LGBT community in Ireland.
Here's a bit from an interview that was done with
her in the Marxist dot Org. It's time now for
that to be resolved. So she was specifically talking at
the time about how equal marriage or equal rights of marriage,
same sex marriage was happening and there was finally getting
(08:47):
headway and like, okay, not that it was solved, but
it was addressed for a bit. And then she goes
on to say, in this country, recognition for trans people
in appropriate ways education, health, birth certificate documents and so
on is absolutely crucial and very urgent because trans people
are living in dreadfully difficult situations now due to the
(09:09):
failure to legislate appropriately. So just to note, this is
from a twenty fourteen article, so pretty old. This is
why I'm like, oh my god. Which it seemed like
things were going okay, Like think about our own twenty fourteen.
We were celebrating victories. The thing thought things were changing
(09:29):
like this was like hope. We were in the midst
of hope, meaning we were seeing things become again equal
and we uh. But it is interesting because she also
talks about the need for protecting trans rights then in
Ireland and about what it looks like when your rights
are oppressed. So I wanted this bit because she was like,
(09:51):
at this point, we got it. People don't understand oppression.
And it was twenty fourteen, you were seeing change. If
you were younger in that moment, you didn't know what happened.
Maybe you didn't know what happened with Stonewall, maybe you
didn't understand the AIDS epidemic and all the language that happened,
and true oppressive oppression and impressiveness that was occurring. So
she was talking about the fact that you know, they
(10:13):
don't understand. So this is an interesting part. Well, I
think there's been a de radicalization of social movements. Generally,
social movement politics went into abeyance. I think that's true
of feminism and women's rights, and I think that is
undoubtedly true of the lesbian gay movement. But first, I
think there are still pockets of radicalism which are extremely
important because there's still a need for struggle, there is
(10:34):
a need to achieve that liberation, which is still quite
distant in many ways. But also I think it's quite
understandable what happened and what happens in identity politics that
once your particular issue, that part of your identity seems
to be more accepted and seems to occupy more spacious
zone in society. Once that becomes more acceptable, you then
begin to live your life in those terms. And the
(10:56):
need for struggle in relation to your sexual identity becomes
less smart, less urgent, It becomes less your primary concern.
Whereas when that is oppressed or repressed, that is your
primary concern, and you do everything you can on the streets,
you do everything you can to achieve its acceptance.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Is it irony? Any what would what would we call this?
Speaker 1 (11:20):
No, Samantha, I no joke. I once lost a huge
trivia based on the definition of irony. So do not
do this to me. It haunts me.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Wow, the triggering that happened was not the type of triggering.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I saw what happened.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I hear it, and I think, what have you done
to me?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Apologies back to No, But I do find it interesting
in this speech because it kind of is almost like
a foreshadowing of things that come. And I I am
so sad that we are back here again in knowing
that statement that in hearing the statement she talked about,
whereas whereas when that is appress or repressed, that it
(12:10):
is your primary concern. And that's where we are. That's
where we are in the US and in a lot
of places. We know that it's not just the US,
but primarily as we see things happening. It feels like
the warning that came eight years ago, because we were
kind of not necessarily stagnant, but we really thought we'd
hit such a great mark, you know.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Yeah. Yeah, And I remember talking to Bridget about this
forever ago, and she was like, I took that backpack off,
and I don't want to put that backpack on again.
I've got a new backpack, the backpack being whatever issue.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
You were writing for.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Yeah, And I think it is. It is easy to
feel that way, like, oh my god, I was just
thinking about it. I remember I was when gay marriage
was legalized, and it was like, Okay, this is done,
and now it's like, oh, any day it could be undone.
That's what the backpack comes back, right.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
And exactly like that kind of was an interesting moment
of where she's like, Okay, we've done with that now,
but like, no, we're not.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
No, we're not. Nope, we're back. We're back to that now.
We're back to the press oppressed moment.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
In the same way with women's rights and reproductive rights
and abortion laws and all these things. It is very
sad to say yes, as you and Bridget would say, backpack,
but it's also saying like we're back to that oppressed
state and in which we are talking about going back
into that street. I will say she's been on some
podcasts recently, she's been doing some interview, she's been getting accolades,
(13:44):
still working her work like she is never done, obviously,
and it's it's interesting to see her talk even more
about it. I will say it was really refreshing because
I for all of our feminis around the world or
activists around the world, we try to make sure in
our best ability that they do align with our own beliefs,
(14:04):
including trans rites and understanding trans people, because there is
a lot of bad players. It was beautiful to see
that all of the articles that I saw were mad
at her for not being anti trans, you know, like
instead of like, oh she is she said this really
silly thing or that were like how could she? And
I'm like, oh goodness, thank god. Especially when you see
(14:27):
old school icons you never know, yeah, you never know.
So she was also like a breath of fresh air
to see. And with that, it's no surprise. She's been
awarded with many accolades, and some of them include Lifetime
Achievement awards. She won Ireland's LGBTQ Awards. In twenty nineteen,
she was one of the top one hundred most Influential
(14:47):
for Time magazine, along with her co directors four Together
for Yes. In twenty twenty two, she was ordered the
Freedom of Dublin City Award. She's been awarded an honorary doctorate.
She also was ordered a big French that I can't
remember the name of because it's in French. I'm not
gonna make you say it, Annie, Okay. Usually I've been
(15:09):
trying to do a cutaway to be like, okay, any
you pronounce this. But she has done so much for
the community. She continues to do so much. She like
I think, began the women and Gender studies at the
University of Dublin.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Like she is an icon in so many ways.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So cheers to her and her amazing works and the
fact that we are still continuing this fight.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yes, and thanks to the people who paved the way
for these fights and who continue to do them. We
really appreciate it. Well, listeners, If you have any thoughts
about this, or any suggestions for future topics or people
we should spotlight, please.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Let us know.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
You can email us at Hello at stuff Onenever told
you dot com. You can find us on Blue Sky
at mom Stuff podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok at
stuff When Never Told You for us on YouTube. We
have some merchandise at Cotton Bureau, and we have a
book you can get wherever we get your books. Thanks
as always to our super Christine, our executive producer, My Ander,
contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you for listening
stuff Never Told You. Introduction of my Heart Radio. More
(16:13):
podcasts from my heart Radio. You can check out the
heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha, and welcome to stuff.
I never told your production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Okay, I am on the mend.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
If you've been listening in real time, it is March
twenty fourth, twenty twenty six, the season of allergies.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
And yes, my voice is.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Still pretty creepy and squeaky, so adorable. But the show
must go on. We did try to take a pause,
but we're continuing on and and it seems I am
on an Irish cook It is like around Saint Patrick's day,
so it feels appropriate. There are clovers everywhere. I've not
(00:51):
found a four leaf clover though, that's really looking. Yes
I have, have you I don't think so you've never
found one.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I don't think I have. I'm my cursed.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
That makes me sad for you. Oh no, we'll have
to figure it out.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
We'll have a party because I have several patches of
clovers in my backyard, so we'll bring you over here
and we'll look. But anyway, with all of that, yes,
I am on an Irish content kick, because we've got
two Irish related episodes within this week. Again, I know
not everybody listens within this time, but just saying if
you spout stumble upon this one. No. Within the same way,
(01:29):
we recorded a second content with Irish related subject matter. Yeah,
I really need to go to there. I would really
like to go.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
To there, to be honest, it's beautiful. I want to
see some puffins. I know you can see.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
I know there's puffins everywhere else as well at other places,
but there are islands with puffins that people like.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Help to fly. I want to go to there.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Maybe one day, one day, somebody somebody sent me to
see the puffins in Ireland please, But anyway, yes, and
for today we are talking about the works and activism
of the feminist icon in Ireland.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Alba Smith.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
So, yes, her name is spelt very Gaelic, I believe,
and so it took me a minute to figure out
how to say it.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
It's not smithe Smith. I did figure that out, just
everybody knows.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
So she is a known writer, academic, queer and feminist
activist who's still advocating for the marginalized community today.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
And she has talked about.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
Her journey in feminism and how she began to get
take interest in the women's movements when she started college.
But honestly, she also talks about the back of that
you know as a woman naturally, which you would think
it's naturally, but that's what you've talked about before, it's not,
which made me very sad. But she's always had some
interest in women's rights and women's equality and understood the
(02:59):
depth of needed in that type of movement. I do
find her very interesting because she is if there is
a rating system for radicalists, she is probably pretty radical
in most people's books, because she really comes out swinging
and talking about how capitalism is also a part of
the downfall of equality, and if you've listened to our show,
(03:23):
we also have understood that concept as well.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Love everything about this.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
But anyway back to she has referenced the women's liberation
movement in the seventies and how seeing all of this
has kind of made her into this activist seeing the
need and also ident'ty finding her own identity has led
her to this point as well. Again, she saw the
(03:49):
need for change not only for women but for the
LGBTQIA plus community and has been something that she has
been very vocal about in her activism. She identifies as
a lesbian and has done so a belief since the
nineties eighties, so not necessarily later in life. I want
to say midlife is when she kind of like, oh,
this is who I am.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
This makes sense to me.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Her own life has been a whorldwind of activism, continue
to grow again in her advocacy, but something that she
talks about that has been somewhat lonely and painful. I
couldn't imagine, because the seventies eighties, being a radical feminist
could probably be very isolating for a very Catholic, old school,
traditional area. So in an article written about her by
(04:33):
The Cut quotes her saying this, when I started this work,
it created what I called a Siberian wind which would
blow between me and certain family members, certain friends. Also
in the late nineteen nineties, I came out as a
lesbian in Ireland, at least at the time, being a feminist,
pro choice lesbian really did not win you a lot
of friends. I felt quite isolated, like I've been branded
(04:54):
as a radical, which I don't have a problem with really.
I just happened to have always thought abortion is not
a particularly radical thing to be asking for, because every
single day there is something between ten to twelve women
that have to go to England for an abortion, which
is a terrible thing to have to do, and there
are two or three more women every day who take
the abortion pill without having the safety net of medical
(05:15):
care or medical supervision if something goes wrong. It was
often quite difficult dealing with friends and family members who
didn't understand I have some painful memories, which even now
I don't particularly want to talk about, is still painful.
And I hate that we're coming back into the same conversation.
(05:37):
And I will say, and I'm going to mention it
again later. Some of the articles that I'm mentioning are
like are old articles, like eight to ten years old.
But I thought it fascinating once again because you can
see kind of the cyclical looks of where we were
and where we are today, and I'm like, oh, could
we not go back to that? But anyway, her intersectional
(05:58):
advocacy work is fast. She's been feed by different organizations
for her work. Again, one specific issue that's always been
very vocal about has been reproductive rights, and in the
seventies eighties she worked with organizations to post things like
the eighth Amendment in the Irish Constitution, which was the
all right abortion ban placed on the Irish people. They
call it the Catholic It was a Catholic law slash
(06:21):
pro life law.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So obviously, again.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
From that cut article, they quote her saying I've campaigned
for Irish women's rights, including abortion rights, since I was
quite a young woman in the nineteen seventies. I'm seventy
two now again an older article, and I had the
coalition to repeal the Eighth Amendment.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
The eighth Amendment is the.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Clause to our constitution that prohibits abortion, and we're looking
at a referendum at the end of this week when
we hope to repeal it.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
So this was.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Again I believe, done in twenty eighteen when they were
first talking about repealing that amendment, and they did so
while there's still pretty strict regulations placed on reproductive rights,
less strict than.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Than hours in Georgia. So you know, congrats.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
With the help of activists like Smith and the organization
she chaired at the time, together for Yes, they were
able to replace some of the language of the Eighth Amendment,
giving more broader care for the irishwomen. So this is
a bit from wave dash Network dot org. Since nineteen
eighty three, when the Eighth Amendment was inserted into the
Constitution after a referendum. Smith has fought against the amendment,
(07:27):
effectively prohibits abortion, placing the rights of the unborn and
the mother on equal footing. Since then, about one hundred
and seventy thousand irishwomen have traveled to other countries, especially
to the UK, to obtain abortions. Five years ago, Smith
formed the Coalition to Repeal the Eighth Amendment to strengthen
the public debates on the issue and pushed for referendum
(07:48):
and finally in twenty eighteen, this long fight ended with
a victory. So they really did some amazing work. In
this conversation that's specific look at what had happened was
not about Smith specifically, but it featured her as in
her organization that she chaired, as being the head of
(08:10):
the reason of why it actually worked.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
So I thought it was very significant.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Another organization she chaired, National LGBT Federation, also helped to
work for the rights of the LGBT community in Ireland.
Here's a bit from an interview that was done with
her in the Marxist dot Org. It's time now for
that to be resolved. So she was specifically talking at
the time about how equal marriage or equal rights of marriage,
same sex marriage was happening and there was finally getting
(08:47):
headway and like, okay, not that it was solved, but
it was addressed for a bit. And then she goes
on to say, in this country, recognition for trans people
in appropriate ways education, health, birth certificate documents and so
on is absolutely crucial and very urgent because trans people
are living in dreadfully difficult situations now due to the
(09:09):
failure to legislate appropriately. So just to note, this is
from a twenty fourteen article, so pretty old. This is
why I'm like, oh my god. Which it seemed like
things were going okay, Like think about our own twenty fourteen.
We were celebrating victories. The thing thought things were changing
(09:29):
like this was like hope. We were in the midst
of hope, meaning we were seeing things become again equal
and we uh. But it is interesting because she also
talks about the need for protecting trans rights then in
Ireland and about what it looks like when your rights
are oppressed. So I wanted this bit because she was like,
(09:51):
at this point, we got it. People don't understand oppression.
And it was twenty fourteen, you were seeing change. If
you were younger in that moment, you didn't know what happened.
Maybe you didn't know what happened with Stonewall, maybe you
didn't understand the AIDS epidemic and all the language that happened,
and true oppressive oppression and impressiveness that was occurring. So
she was talking about the fact that you know, they
(10:13):
don't understand. So this is an interesting part. Well, I
think there's been a de radicalization of social movements. Generally,
social movement politics went into abeyance. I think that's true
of feminism and women's rights, and I think that is
undoubtedly true of the lesbian gay movement. But first, I
think there are still pockets of radicalism which are extremely
important because there's still a need for struggle, there is
(10:34):
a need to achieve that liberation, which is still quite
distant in many ways. But also I think it's quite
understandable what happened and what happens in identity politics that
once your particular issue, that part of your identity seems
to be more accepted and seems to occupy more spacious
zone in society. Once that becomes more acceptable, you then
begin to live your life in those terms. And the
(10:56):
need for struggle in relation to your sexual identity becomes
less smart, less urgent, It becomes less your primary concern.
Whereas when that is oppressed or repressed, that is your
primary concern, and you do everything you can on the streets,
you do everything you can to achieve its acceptance.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Is it irony? Any what would what would we call this?
Speaker 1 (11:20):
No, Samantha, I no joke. I once lost a huge
trivia based on the definition of irony. So do not
do this to me. It haunts me.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
Wow, the triggering that happened was not the type of triggering.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
I saw what happened.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I hear it, and I think, what have you done
to me?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Apologies back to No, But I do find it interesting
in this speech because it kind of is almost like
a foreshadowing of things that come. And I I am
so sad that we are back here again in knowing
that statement that in hearing the statement she talked about,
whereas whereas when that is appress or repressed, that it
(12:10):
is your primary concern. And that's where we are. That's
where we are in the US and in a lot
of places. We know that it's not just the US,
but primarily as we see things happening. It feels like
the warning that came eight years ago, because we were
kind of not necessarily stagnant, but we really thought we'd
hit such a great mark, you know.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Yeah. Yeah, And I remember talking to Bridget about this
forever ago, and she was like, I took that backpack off,
and I don't want to put that backpack on again.
I've got a new backpack, the backpack being whatever issue.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
You were writing for.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Yeah, And I think it is. It is easy to
feel that way, like, oh my god, I was just
thinking about it. I remember I was when gay marriage
was legalized, and it was like, Okay, this is done,
and now it's like, oh, any day it could be undone.
That's what the backpack comes back, right.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
And exactly like that kind of was an interesting moment
of where she's like, Okay, we've done with that now,
but like, no, we're not.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
No, we're not. Nope, we're back. We're back to that now.
We're back to the press oppressed moment.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
In the same way with women's rights and reproductive rights
and abortion laws and all these things. It is very
sad to say yes, as you and Bridget would say, backpack,
but it's also saying like we're back to that oppressed
state and in which we are talking about going back
into that street. I will say she's been on some
podcasts recently, she's been doing some interview, she's been getting accolades,
(13:44):
still working her work like she is never done, obviously,
and it's it's interesting to see her talk even more
about it. I will say it was really refreshing because
I for all of our feminis around the world or
activists around the world, we try to make sure in
our best ability that they do align with our own beliefs,
(14:04):
including trans rites and understanding trans people, because there is
a lot of bad players. It was beautiful to see
that all of the articles that I saw were mad
at her for not being anti trans, you know, like
instead of like, oh she is she said this really
silly thing or that were like how could she? And
I'm like, oh goodness, thank god. Especially when you see
(14:27):
old school icons you never know, yeah, you never know.
So she was also like a breath of fresh air
to see. And with that, it's no surprise. She's been
awarded with many accolades, and some of them include Lifetime
Achievement awards. She won Ireland's LGBTQ Awards. In twenty nineteen,
she was one of the top one hundred most Influential
(14:47):
for Time magazine, along with her co directors four Together
for Yes. In twenty twenty two, she was ordered the
Freedom of Dublin City Award. She's been awarded an honorary doctorate.
She also was ordered a big French that I can't
remember the name of because it's in French. I'm not
gonna make you say it, Annie, Okay. Usually I've been
(15:09):
trying to do a cutaway to be like, okay, any
you pronounce this. But she has done so much for
the community. She continues to do so much. She like
I think, began the women and Gender studies at the
University of Dublin.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Like she is an icon in so many ways.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So cheers to her and her amazing works and the
fact that we are still continuing this fight.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yes, and thanks to the people who paved the way
for these fights and who continue to do them. We
really appreciate it. Well, listeners, If you have any thoughts
about this, or any suggestions for future topics or people
we should spotlight, please.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Let us know.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
You can email us at Hello at stuff Onenever told
you dot com. You can find us on Blue Sky
at mom Stuff podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok at
stuff When Never Told You for us on YouTube. We
have some merchandise at Cotton Bureau, and we have a
book you can get wherever we get your books. Thanks
as always to our super Christine, our executive producer, My Ander,
contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you for listening
stuff Never Told You. Introduction of my Heart Radio. More
(16:13):
podcasts from my heart Radio. You can check out the
heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
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