THERE HAS BEEN an outpouring of support for RTÉ presenter Jonathan Clynch after it was revealed he identifies as gender fluid.

Clynch, a long-time radio presenter at RTÉ, will now be referred to on air as “Jonathan Rachel Clynch”.

The story was reported in yesterday’s Irish Star, with sources telling the paper that the broadcaster was “supportive” of the decision.

Clynch was due to appear on the Marian Finucane show yesterday, but the presenter said that he had decided against it, saying he would not let “any newspaper dictate when he would or he wouldn’t talk about himself”.

“He was to come in and talk to us here today about the whole thing and to explain it and how his life and that will be changed for the better for him now, but he only found out yesterday that this would be in the papers today.”

RTÉ says it is supportive of Clynch, calling him a “valued member of staff and a highly-respected journalist”.

Clynch’s decision has drawn praise.

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According to the Star story, Clynch sometimes identifies as a man and as a woman at other times.

Read: The Irish state will now accept trans people’s own declaration of their gender