Mermaids, Gendered Intelligence & Fox killer launch appeal against Charity Commission over LGB Alliance charity status

They've done nothing to benefit LGB people

Oh yes they have!

Look behind you!

Etc

In the unlikely event that Mermaids (and Allies) succeeded in this legal action, would they disappear in a puff of their own logic?

I've read the grounds of appeal and each claim appears to be true.

Fingers crossed their charity status is revoked. They've done nothing to benefit LGB people (and in fact have launched harmful campaigns against LGB rights - like their support for conversion therapy).

It's all a facade for their anti-trans ideology.

Reading through the Grounds of Appeal it's interesting to how many of the issues it raises of bad behaviour by LGBA are already generally accepted as being reasonable, for example that LGBA "engaged in a long-running campaign to dismantle Stonewall's Diversity Champions Scheme" and "campaigned to deprive ... Stonewall ... of funding".

Not the best timing. I'm leaning more towards Mermaids et al wanting to push LGBA = transphobic as a narrative and, like WhereYouLeftIt says, a means of forcing LGBA to waste precious financial resources. As described accurately by Allison Bailey as "vexatious & mendacious". I always like to see "frivolous" in there too but I can see why it was left out on this occasion.

If this challenge succeeds, I will no longer be able to do that, and you’ve really got to ask yourself what sort of a person or group of people would try to prevent people from donating to a charity just because they personally don’t agree with its aims.

You can also donate directly through their website.

Well, what to say about those grounds for appeal. I'm not a lawyer but they sound very flimsy to me, all in all just a massive it's not fair whinge, and most of the grounds could be equally applied against Mermaids. Surely the Courts and the Charity Commission won't entertain this nonsense?

This is part of an unedifying and nasty campaign of harassment against LGBA, it's high time it was stopped.

Oh sorry, ignore me

Maybe SW are 'advising' or something, and Mermaids are the named appellant/complainant.

Interesting bio on Susie Greene / Mermaids to:

"Susie Green is the CEO of Mermaids, a charity she set-up to help families with transgender children.

She took her son Jack – now Jackie – to Thailand for sex-change surgery at 16, because the NHS would not operate on someone so young. "

Nauticant
Stonewall or some of its entities appear to be members of the consortium as far as I can see. I suspect it may be one of the larger members.

So hang on, are Stonewall associated or not?

Could perhaps the confusion be because they were originally in, then they got cold feet due to the last few days of publicity?

The Daily Mail (Mail Online) is very firmly stating that Mermaids has been joined by Stonewall in the action against the Charity Commission.

The story has made the Daily Mail now:

Trans groups go to war with Charity Commission over LGB Alliance
mol.im/a/9643495

Through all this, they've never yet allowed themselves to be put in a position where they have to actually explain how men can be lesbians.

Well if that was their belief but they were tolerant of other groups existing who did not share it and wished to ensure an equality of narrative, stage, funding and public voice for LGB people who see their sexuality as a sex based rather than a gender based thing, there wouldn't be a problem. This is the full extent of the LGBA's perceived offense against them as far as I can see.

The grounds for appeal are here:
glplive.org/0106-grounds (Google docs link)

I just looked at the grounds for appeal, it seems that the Appellant is just Mermaids, as opposed to all of them?

They do seem to be misrepresenting the aims of LGBA though, which I find surprising as that is so easily disproved.

Why on earth would LGB Alliance compete with Mermaids for donations and grants????

This only makes sense if you assume that grants and donations are randomly given to charities with no understanding of their purpose, possibly for PR purposes.

Of course that might be Mermaid’s experience, but it doesn’t make sense as a legal argument.

Is Stonewall explicitly involved in this case? Looking at the Crowdfunder I see that Mermaids, LGBT+ Consortium, Gendered Intelligence, LGBT Foundation, TransActual, and Good Law Project are involved but no mention of Stonewall.

Sexnotgender interesting post, and nails what I've been musing on all morning.

Why is the existence of the LGBA threatening enough to take all this action against?

Well I know why, it's a rhetorical question. But this is now being pulled into public view and people who are less well read and versed in all this are going to start wanting to know. And that's going to get interesting.

.

I would also have thought that much more of this and the usual suspects are going to have a harrassment case to answer.

The fact they are using public money to harrass womens and gay rights campaigners must surely count as an agravating factor.

And as for comparing trans people to Jews, and those who have gender critical beliefs to ante semites, words fail me.

Someone posted this on twitter. It’s enlightening…

It's hard to figure out the reasoning. If the case is lost it will bring a lot of publicity and will open a lot of people's eyes. If the case is won, then this will achieve the same result.

The only tactic I can imagine is that bringing the case is a kind of loss leader. The expectation is to lose and this will achieve two goals, to more firmly embed the victim narrative "look, both the Establishment and the courts deny the existence of trans people" and to employ that to draw in more closely the true believers.