The Week on TwitterTopical

The Week on Twitter | Amber Heard, JobBridge, and #iPropose

By Jade Hayden

This week, the USI proposed some changes, Leo Varadkar proposed an end to the JobBridge scheme, and everyone proposed that we celebrate some turtles. It was also reported that Amber Heard was filing for a restraining order against Johnny Depp following domestic abuse allegations.

Students celebrate the anniversary of #MarRef with #iPropose campaign

Monday was the official anniversary of the marriage referendum. Since May 23rd 2015, there have been 412 same-sex marriages and countless more proposals all around the country. In light of this, the National Union of Students in Ireland took to Leinster House with some of their own proposals – specifically ones about legislation that would end other forms of inequality and discrimination against the LGBT community that the marriage referendum did not address.

These proposals included ending the blood ban – an outdated restriction which bans any man who has had sex with another man from ever donating blood, introducing hate crime legislation, promoting marriage equality in Northern Ireland, and extending the Gender Recognition Act to those under 18 years of age.

With the #iPropose campaign, the USI are not just emphasising the discrimination and struggles that still exist for members of the LGBT community one year on from the marriage referendum, but also the fact that young LGBT people and students are twice as likely to self-harm as their heterosexual peers, and four times more likely to report severe levels of anxiety and depression.

https://twitter.com/trotbae/status/734812531785621504

#JobBridge scheme to be scrapped… And replaced by something else

In 2011, the JobBridge internship programme became a thing, and lots of people worked a tonne of hours for a virtually non-existent wage. This year, new Minister for social protection Leo Varadkar has decided that JobBridge should be scrapped entirely, and simply replaced by something else.

According to Varadkar, JobBridge “served its purpose” for the past five years, but now it is time for the scheme to be replaced by something more “appropriate” for the current job climate. Supposedly, JobBridge worked well during a time where graduates couldn’t get work experience, and companies couldn’t find employees, and was definitely, definitely not abused by anybody at all. Definitely.

The new scheme is set to be launched in September and will probably feature a shortened internship period of six months. All interns still working under the JobBridge scheme at that time will be expected to complete their placements.

#AmberHeard files for restraining order against #JohnnyDepp following domestic abuse allegations

Yesterday, it was reported that actor Amber Heard had been granted a temporary restraining order against her estranged husband Johnny Depp. The news came after it was revealed that Heard had accused Depp of violently abusing her multiple times during their marriage.

In true social media fashion, lots of awful people did what they always do when a woman claims to have been abused by a man – shouted about her being an attention seeking, lying whore. Except this time, the firing line was not just aimed at Heard’s allegations, but at the fact that she is a bisexual woman who has a few lesbian friends. Yep, according to more than a few publications and plenty of Twitter users, Amber Heard is only divorcing Johnny Depp because her evil lesbian mates told her to. Makes sense.

Thankfully, lots of nice, intelligent people on the internet recognise that neither Heard’s sexuality, nor that of her friends’, has absolutely anything to do with the case, and they took to Twitter to express this fact.

https://twitter.com/hcrley_/status/736409778503684096

https://twitter.com/LeanneWoodfull/status/736300759004893185

Twitter celebrates #WorldTurtleDay

May 23rd marked the first anniversary of the marriage referendum, but it also marked the celebration of World Turtle Day – a day dedicated to recognising how cute turtles are, looking at pictures of cute turtles, appreciating turtles and everything they do for us via being cute, and also to encourage humans to help cute turtles live and thrive on earth for as long as possible.

World Turtle Day has been a thing since 2000 when it was decided that people needed to learn more about turtles, save them from dangerous situations, and wear green clothing in support of them.

This year, some people celebrated World Turtle Day by tweeting cute pictures of turtles, etc. Here are their tweets.

Featured image source

Jade Hayden 144 posts 0 comments

Jade Hayden has an MA in journalism, a degree in English, and a house rabbit who sleeps in her bed sometimes. You'll often find her wearing glasses, fixing her fringe, and complaining about the amount of time she spends on public transport. Jade is also the editor of HeadStuff's topical section, and she'd love if you sent your submissions over to [email protected].

You might also like More from author