#DontSubmitToStonewall - suggested quick action by Legal Feminist

Bloody hell. Are there any grown ups left anywhere in local or national government?

[quote OhHolyJesus]@Nonmaquillee

I wonder what the CEO of Royal Mail would make of it??

You could ask him. Let us know what happens!

www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jan/11/royal-mail-appoints-simon-thompson-chief-executive-ocado-nhs-test-and-trace

Maybe include the pics of the Pups too so he can see what he is associated with.

You could copy this email format, from the Former CEO until 2018.

Ms Moya Greene (CEO) on moya.greene@royalmail.com.[/quote]
This is bloody brilliant -I shall do this today and get back to you 😊

Stonewall on BBC.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57281448

[quote Mollyollydolly]This medium article is about the FOI's from a TRA point of view. I do not endorse the opinions in this article obviously, but thought some of you might like to read how 'the other side' see it. It's an archived link not to give them the clicks.
archive.is/jSVsD[/quote]
A letter writing campaign too! Dear god, it’ll be the Comfy Chair next!

Maybe they have left the scheme but hadn't quite got round to changing the notepaper?

That is generous of you It'sAll.

The FOI officer responding should be quite embarrassed, lying toad, I mean it's right there 🙄

@Nonmaquillee

I wonder what the CEO of Royal Mail would make of it??

You could ask him. Let us know what happens!

www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jan/11/royal-mail-appoints-simon-thompson-chief-executive-ocado-nhs-test-and-trace

Maybe include the pics of the Pups too so he can see what he is associated with.

You could copy this email format, from the Former CEO until 2018.

Ms Moya Greene (CEO) on moya.greene@royalmail.com.

Omg could Abertay University have answered any quicker!!! Obviously feeling a bit under scrutiny after all the negative publicity.

I wonder if Stonewall membership is a bit like your Sky bill. Start off paying £25 a month and before you know it you are paying £100 a month. Reel you in with offers and then just sneakily keep adding to it.

Sorry if you've already seen this, but I couldn't see a link:

www.mysociety.org/2021/05/24/complaints-about-foi-requests-on-public-bodies-relationships-with-stonewall/

It basically says that WDTK have investigated complaints about #DontSubmitToStonewall and are happy that the FOI requests can remain, but that they are removing the hashtag.

I suspect a lot of orgs went running to Stonewall to ask how to respond to the FOIs, so it has ended up 'draining' Stonewall's time, but it shouldn't have done as they shouldn't have gone to Stonewall for advice.

It might be revealing to some within the organisations to discover quite how much staff time they are paying for for this scheme over and above the cost - which is probably the only figure presented when joining the scheme was proposed.

Having said that, to be fair to the University of Bedfordshire, they seem to have removed the Stonewall logo from their website? Maybe they have left the scheme but hadn't quite got round to changing the notepaper?

I can't help but wonder if the FOIs themselves are having an impact, as the person dealing with the FOI is probably not the person who deals with the (substantial) Diversity Champions paperwork. Perhaps dealing with these FOIs is forcing universities to critically consider their relationship with Stonewall?

Link to original request here if, like me, you couldn't quite believe it and suspected Photoshop. www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/information_about_your_dealings_383#incoming-1775334

(I mean, obviously the whole piece is awful and essentially boils down to ""it's transphobic for the wrong people to ask how public money is spent", I'm just disappointed they couldn't even make it into an actual argument)

This vexatious use of the system as a means of getting bigoted propaganda infront of government organisations

They think FOI requests are being used to write and persuade orgs to change their policies? They clearly have no idea about how FOI requests work in an org. And if the public want to make their views heard they'll most likely write to the CEO or equivalent, not try and hide it in an administrative FOI.

I don't understand the link in that Medium piece between FOIs to other public bodies and why this means Stonewall themselves can't do other projects? Why are Stonewall's resources being "drained" by FOI requests to different orgs? Surely they shouldn't be getting involved, so there shouldn't be a direct link as this person is claiming.

[quote Mollyollydolly]This medium article is about the FOI's from a TRA point of view. I do not endorse the opinions in this article obviously, but thought some of you might like to read how 'the other side' see it. It's an archived link not to give them the clicks.
archive.is/jSVsD[/quote]
The article informs me, loud and clear, that we are making waves. The pushback is having an impact. Great stuff

I’ll do it.

Yesterday my jaw dropped when a post office van pulled out in front of me totally “rainbow washed” with some hashtag Pride slogan on the back.

I’m not quite sure who pays who in this instance - ?? But from what I have read about Pride gatherings with their groups of people in fetish gear on display in broad daylight and the claims that Pride are family friendly events 🤨🤨 I wonder what the CEO of Royal Mail would make of it??

@KleineDracheKokosnuss

Looks like replies are coming in quickly from the Oxford Colleges!!

It's worth having a look at Stonewall's accounts here:
register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/3992465/accounts-and-annual-returns

Latest figures are for 2019 (details p.28 onwards).

They receive grants from the DfE, FCO, and Scottish and Welsh Governments. Total income from government sources in 2019 was £702,295.

Fees received from membership of programmes such as the Diversity Champions programme and Schools Champions, plus speaker fees and 'consultancy requests': £3,269,477. Fees from other 'training': £633,954.

Much of this is also public money. Sex Matters estimate that about 250 Government departments and public bodies are members of Stonewall schemes. If they pay around £3,000 p.a. each for membership, this is around £750,000, plus any additional fees paid for extras such as 'training'. There is also income from state schools.

Nearly half of Stonewall's income (about £8.3m in 2019) comes from their Champions programmes and training. They stand to lose a lot if organisations pull out of these schemes.

Oh what a coincidence @KleineDracheKokosnuss, just after your post FOIs have been made to the first 10 Oxford colleges as per the list on the wiki page.

A friend told me you can only do 10 requests a day, wouldn't it be helpful if someone could start at the bottom of the list and get FOIs out to all of them.

Then maybe start on Cambridge!

molly for the love of the wee man! That's mental money from Ofcom! Madness!

Paid by us? The taxpayer?

Just looking at the FOI I did for Ofcom. Monies paid to Stonewall.

1. Details of the total amount of money you paid to Stonewall (i) in 2019; (ii) in 2020, whether

We paid the following amounts to Stonewall in connection with our Stonewall Diversity Champions
programme membership fees, conference costs and training:

• 2019 - £3000 (including VAT)

• 2020 - £9,028.20 (including VAT)

That's a lot of money in 2020. A lot of money.