A prominent trans rights activist has accused Boni Odoemene, a candidate running to be President of DIT Students’ Union, of transphobia and homophobia, and has asked DIT students not to vote for him.
Toryn Glavin, a founding member of the Irish Trans Student Alliance, as well as a former chairperson of DIT’s LGBT society, tonight recounted her experience of sitting on a bus in front of Odoemene whilst he had a debate with a friend about her gender. In a Facebook post, she said: “he decided to have a debate on the bus with a friend about whether I was a man, a woman or an it. They decided I was a man in a dress. This was after a lengthy conversation on the reasons they were voting No in May’s referendum.” She also described how as chair of the LGBT society, she received reports of Odoemene “calling queer people faggots in DIT hallways”.
In a Facebook post at about 9pm, Odoemene denied Glavin’s claims and posted a photo of himself holding up a Yes Equality “I’m Ready to Vote” poster. He went on to say that “Throughout my time in DIT I have worked so hard to make sure that all DIT students no matter who they are feel accepted and acknowledged!”, and queried why he was not “questioned or investigated by DIT or DITSU” once he became a college officer. Odoemene is the current College Officer for the Aungier St campus, and is the current President of DIT Law Society.
However, in a comment responding to someone who said she was unsure if it was fair to discuss the issue so publicly, Ciara Murnane, last year’s Vice-President for Events, said: “Unfortunately it is completely true and the union was aware of it when he ran for college officer last year. It was Toryns choice not to speak publicly about it but now that she has I am glad to be able to actively support all members of the LGBTQ community in DIT in informing people about his behaviour.”
Fiachra Duffy, last year’s President, also responded in the thread, noting that “Boni was already elected” when he was informed in a personal capacity of the incident by Glavin. He went on: “but it was before inaugurations so he had not signed any contract with DITSU, he was just a student of DIT.” “The Union can’t do anything about students or lecturers directly”, he said, but rather can just guide students confidentially through a formal complaint process. No formal complaint was received by DITSU, he said.
In his Facebook post, Odoemene went on: “For everyone who knows me or knows of me, I just want to say that all this is a complete lie and that I have never behaved in such an appalling manner towards any DIT student. These claims are defamatory, I have reported them to DITSU and I will be consulting with my solicitor to take this issue further. I hope to have this issue settled in the courts.”
Speaking to The University Times this evening, however, Glavin said that, on the bus, there was a “discussion of how it was in front of them”. “They came to the conclusion that I was a man” whilst knowing that she could hear their discussion, she said.
“If he has no problem with attacking the competent head of a society, I’d just fear to think what he’s doing to other people he deems ‘faggots’ around DIT. It came back to me after that a close friend of mine had been called faggot in a hallway by him”, she said.
Speaking about her reasons for posting the status this evening, Glavin said she would have regretted “had he been elected” and she had “never said anything about it”. “To have on my own back door a transphobic, homophobic person running for the head of the SU was just enough”, she said.
In a Facebook post sharing Glavin’s status, the Post Grad Officer of DIT Students’ Union, Thomas Butler, tonight said that he had resigned his post on the DIT Students’ Union Electoral Commission so that he could say how ashamed he was about Odoemene’s actions. “Make sure to make your vote count next week. Make sure your union is one that stands up for all of its students”, he said.
Glavin’s post made it clear that she was “not endorsing the other candidate” in the race. “Vote R.O.N if you need to please just keep queer people safe in DIT and don’t vote Boni”, she said.
Both Glavin and Butler’s post have received support from the union’s community. Duffy liked Butler’s post, as did Gareth Walker-Ayers, the current Vice-President for Education. Murnane also shared Glavin’s post saying that since Glavin was “brave enough to share this story”, she was “more than happy to encourage all my friends in DIT to vote against Boni for president.”
As well as her work with the student alliance, where she was the main organiser of its trans training, Glavin has also worked extensively with the Transgender Equality Network of Ireland (TENI) with regards to the Irish Trans Youth Forum.
Odoemene did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The University Times, which were directed by email, and via a Facebook message to his personal page, and to his campaign page.
Voting in the DIT Students’ Union elections begins on Monday, with voting in the main campuses occurring over three days, from March 8th to March 10th. Votes will be counted on March 11th.
