Ruth Hunt: Stonewall CEO

[TimeLady]

uk.linkedin.com/in/ruth-hunt-54a4456

Student politics at Oxford

Eighteen months with
www.ecu.ac.uk/about-us/

then straight into Stonewall in 2005

She's as much a career politician as those in the HoC, who have never experienced work on the outside. Hardly surprising that she embraced the T when the LGB 'fight' was effectively over. What would she be doing now otherwise?

Continuing the 'fight' for diversity could well be viewed as another job creation scheme. Why would those involved ever want it to be over?

The next step is a job as a Special Parliamentary Adviser (in the footsteps of Andy Burnham, Ed Miliband, Ed Balls, David Cameron and George Osbourn) followed by a safe seat

It's often said that most campaigning groups should regard it as a deep matter of shame that they celebrate their 20 year anniversary, 30 year etc.

And, yes - beyond a certain point, the obsession is the need to keep a budget/office, not that the matter has been resolved.

Now, the argument is simplistic but there is a kernel of truth in it with some groups.

Looks like a case of "jobs for the boys" to me.

Am not a fan of Stonewall’s policies, but don’t like the personal attack on someone’s career choices and path, even politicians!

*It's often said that most campaigning groups should regard it as a deep matter of shame that they celebrate their 20 year anniversary, 30 year etc."

That's such a good point.

Am not a fan of Stonewall’s policies, but don’t like the personal attack on someone’s career choices and path, even politicians!

Under Ruth's guidance Stonewall tried to remove Equality Act protections for women and girls. I don't really give a chuff if she takes offence. Nothing pointed out here is untrue.

Rhetoric like 'personal attack' are so out of place.

Noone in a public position of responsibility is above critique, especially of their career, especially of their connections, especially of their priorities.

Reframing critique as 'personal attack' is daft. It matters that the choices made by such people are not placed beyond question. It's extremely important that we keep analysing who is pushing massive social change, who is funding it, who is lobbying for it, and what their motivations and agendas are.

Too right Ova. Stonewall is a shitshow of its former self. The lobbying done to remove sex based exemptions from the EA done on Ruth's watch is disgusting.

Am not a fan of Stonewall’s policies, but don’t like the personal attack on someone’s career choices and path, even politicians!

Why? Someone’s career choice and path is directly relevant to the job they do. It’s not personal in the same way that eg. criticising her appearance would be. Do you think it’s a personal attack to criticise the amount of male politicians there are that have come out of Eton?

I'd like to know whether there's any correlation between policies she has been promoting over the years and the spike in young teenage girls wanting to transition. This is happening on her watch as head of Stonewall, and we all know that organisation is hugely influential.

This is from her LinkedIn page

Marshall Memorial Fellow
German Marshall Fund of the United States
September 2011 – June 2014 2 years 10 months
Nominated by a Prime Ministerial aide of Gordon Brown MP to be the first British Fellow of the Marshall Memorial Fellowship in recognition of my ability to campaign for social change. The fellowship provides a unique opportunity for emerging leaders from Europe to explore institutions, politics, and culture on the other side of the Atlantic. I am now a member of network of over 2000 international policy makers.

www.gmfus.org/archives/reflections-on-the-marshall-memorial-fellowship/

H'mmm, it'd be interesting to see who else was in that network of "over 2000 international policy makers" wouldn't it....?

Am not a fan of Stonewall’s policies, but don’t like the personal attack on someone’s career choices and path, even politicians!

I'm not a fan of elite social closure and social policy cronyism. Ruth Hunt's career path very much included.

If she’d ever had a proper job she’d have more sense. Useless waste of space.

It'd be interesting to see if there was a Canadian connection in there.

Miranda Yardley article:
'Ma Vie En Rose: Ruth Hunt’s Rose-Tinted Trans*Goggles and the anti-Woman Politics of Stonewall'
(extract)
"I first spoke with Stonewall’s Ruth Hunt just over three years ago when the organisation announced it would be engaging with the transgender community. This resulted in the forming of the Stonewall Trans Advisory Group, you know that motley crew of transgender tyrants, including the self-styled (styled as if it were 1973) answer for any heterosexual woman who wishes to bring out her ‘inner lesbian’, Alex ‘Beardy’ Drummond. cheeky wink

Ruth, bless her fighting heart, has been defending transgender activists to an extraordinary degree, indeed there appears to be no transgression she cannot overlook with her inbuilt sense of forgiveness which seems divine in breadth and depth. She has embraced the very dogma that makes real life discussion, debate and compromise with transgenderists impossible, dogma which positions the interests of the T in ‘LGBT’ in opposition to anyone who considers biological sex to be important in any material way: trans women are women, no debate, end of.

Quite aside from it being cruel to humour delusional claims of one being something one is not, positioning one’s acceptance of an individual on a lie is outright dishonest. And anyway, what is a lesbian and gay group doing when it considers the thoughts and feelings of personal identity more important than the reality of our sexed bodies?" (continues)

mirandayardley.com/en/ma-vie-en-rose-ruth-hunts-rose-tinted-transgoggles-and-the-anti-woman-politics-of-stonewall/

Thank for that, Rowan. Interesting.

Stonewall seems to have developed its own brand of KoolAid.

Motley crew is right. What on Earth can she have in common with them?

Intellectual rigour?
Sex Chromosomes?

That article is really interesting Rowan.

It's appalling that she can't stand up for lesbians

Funding.

Its interesting that Ruth Hunt has not been asked (or has not responded) to the role that Stonewall has with regards Aimee Challenor's influence etc.

Aimee Challenor is right there still, on the website.

... but I notice they've added a link to Aimee's website since the last time I looked a few weeks ago. So helpful

How the T began....

www.stonewall.org.uk/sites/default/files/trans_people_and_stonewall.pdf

Foreward

Ruth Hunt, Chief Executive, Stonewall

When I came out as a lesbian at the age of 15 in 1995 I didn’t know any other lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans people. I retreated to Cardiff library and read anything and everything that might help me find my way. In 1996 my family moved to Birmingham. With a number three haircut, a new leather jacket and scant regard for my A-levels, I discovered the Birmingham scene and a new community of lesbians, bisexual people, gay men, drag queens, trans men, trans women and, for me, a strong sense of belonging. We all understood the differences between us but we understood what united us because when we left the ‘village’ we all experienced the same sort of harassment and intimidation. Although I was able to go home to my family, others were less fortunate. For some, the Birmingham village was our family.
As I was embracing a new community, Stonewall and Press for Change activists and campaigners (as well as many others) were working tirelessly on our behalf to eradicate inequalities. The people they were influencing didn’t appreciate the wonderful diversity of our LGBT family. They knew a little about gay men but the rights of trans people were quite a different and complex issue. Our campaigners approached sexual orientation and gender identity as separate issues. This distinction meant greater social progress was achieved for all of us.
Today, society has moved on and Stonewall no longer needs to maintain a strict distinction between sexual orientation and gender identity. Historically, we thought it was the right thing to do. Over the last four months I’ve spoken to hundreds of trans people who say we were wrong to maintain that distinction and we made it worse by making mistakes. We recognise the impact of mistakes we have made in the past. We are aware that we have missed opportunities to open up this conversation far sooner. We apologise to trans people for the harm that we have caused.
After hundreds of conversations with trans people and also with our supporters and partners, we have decided to extend our remit to become a charity which campaigns for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans equality. Whether it’s challenging bullying in our schools, tackling hate crime on our streets or working to make our public services truly equal for all who use them, we have a responsibility to use our voice and our 25 years of experience to help create real change for trans people.
We also believe that taking this step will enhance all of the work that we already do. When we talk to teachers and doctors and managers we tell them how they can start to create an environment that lets people be themselves. Trans people, who all too often have to fight to express themselves and their gender in a way that’s authentic, really know what that means. Learning from them and hearing their voices will only make us stronger as a movement and as an LGBT community.
I want to thank everyone who has made the effort to reach out to Stonewall and tell us what you think. We can achieve so much by standing together so that each and every one of us can be ourselves in all areas of our lives.

We recognise the impact of mistakes we have made in the past. We are aware that we have missed opportunities to open up this conversation far sooner. We apologise to trans people for the harm that we have caused

Wow. They bullied you good and proper!