Change of CEO at mermaids…

I think the problem is that the watchful waiting approach is BORING. there is no glitter, rainbows, unicorns or kids in drag to celebrate, no Pride marches, BBC dramas or TED talks associated with watchful waiting. 'appropriate' doesn't lend itself to memes like 'kind' does. trans kids have pretty much been up for public consumption under Mermaids but appropriate treatment puts them back out of sight in the hands of medical and health professionals. it's just not very exciting is it. I'm not sure they would attract as much lottery funding or celebratory/royal endorsement

@lifeturnsonadime, you ask about any basis for suggesting that 'trans kids' should be denied an education.

Not long ago the Girls' Day School Trust was under fire from certain people for holding to their founding principle of only accepting girls. They allow girls identitifying as boys to remain in school (female bodied, after all), just won't accept males IDing as girls.

This was spun by some as 'denying trans kids an education'. Which is nonsense, of course.

If Green was going to leave to go to a better gig in the states which has already been arranged, I think she'd serve notice and go with Mermaids blessings all the same.

The statement isn't one indictating there's been a job offer.

Its a full on, drop from great height with immediate effect statement. Its coupled with Green and child going silent / deleting on twitter.

Green has gone because she's toxic. We don't know what the exact reason is yet but I suspect we will eventually find out.

Green won't have many options left in the UK. A move abroad is inevitable because of that.

I have no idea what happened. But my very uneducated guess is the new trustee board had enough and got solicitors involved, who then settled with Susie Green for £££££.

If this is the case, the statement would have been agreed as part of the settlement.

I am sincerely hoping that there is enough evidence of failures and mismanagement that she would be seen as a lawsuit waiting to happen particularly in the US.

I believe that as soon as litigation really gets going in the US from detransitioners etc (some of which is already threatened) there will be a major reverse ferret from corporations who will be afraid of the cost. It won't be a moral stance, it will be naked financial self-interest and reputational damage limitation. What insurance company will insure a doctor performing gender surgery if million-dollar lawsuits are lurking in the background.

When the Good Law Grifters manage that, I will watch in interest that they will insist on the same with CAHMS generally.

The problem isn't being trans and needing drugs. And going to court isn't going to magically enable waiting lists to be shortened.

Anyone who thinks a legal challenge to shorter waiting lists is a magic bullet, lives in la la land.

@RedToothBrush I think you may have a good point about SG reinventing herself in the US/Canada. Isn't that what the autism/MMR vaccine doctor (Andrew Wakefield was it) did? They are still very much captured countries, and with Biden and Trudeau forcefully driving through women hating legislation, she'd have a good prospects over there with her CEO experience. Even though she is not a expert and never has been, her ability to reshape an organisation into an evangelical mission, formulating policies largely based on her own experience and retrospectively justifying her own drastic decision making for her child, would I am sure be quite attractive to other organisations that have gone down a similar route across the pond, e.g., the ACLU. I'm thinking "expert witness", lecturer on gender, gigs on the speaking circuit, adviser to government on trans health etc.

I don’t see how Mermaids can survive the oncoming storm. Their funding stream will dry up, every worker / volunteer would have to completely change tack and become the thing they hate. Just ain’t gonna happen imo.

I do think it is interesting how few people are speaking up for SG. I suspect many of the higher profile people can see which way the wind is blowing. Hopefully SG will have a fit of pique and decide to bring down a fair few of them with her.

Webberley retweeting it is surely endorsing that opinion even if she was not the creator.

I don't think it matters who wrote it originally tbh. The important part is the endorsement of the idea.

The Good Law Grifters are in court next week trying to get the nhs to dish out drugs to kids without proper safeguarding.

That'll be fun.

Can't wait.

Surely Mermaids is about supporting "trans" families, ie parents whose child is exhibiting a level of gender dysphoria. A trans CEO might not have the rapport that worried parents are looking for, and also send out the signal that transition is the way forward. Susie was able to advertise, rightly or wrongly, her own experience.

Just before the interim Cass report came out a paediatrician friend asked me whether I knew of any organisations other than Mermaids who supported parents/families. She had a family looking for support who had rejected Mermaids. However Mermaids were the only contact on the list supplied by her Trust. I suggested Bayswater, but warned her to be careful. She had already worked that out.

Who knows how Susie, who is pretty ordinary, got her charity into such a dominant position. I always saw her as a useful/dangerous fool who would be discarded when her usefulness ran out. (I credit Cass for the sea change.) I really hope NHS Trusts start using their own critical judgement rather than sub-contract to overpaid EDI people. If Mermaids is to survive they need someone sensible who will be able to survive a level of scrutiny and achieve the trust of, worried and perhaps gullible, parents. I hope Mermaids, in its current form, does not survive. That said, parents need something, and I hope the NHS is about to find someone more neutral to signpost to.

I read the blog RedTB - it’s just that it wasn’t clear to me that Helen Webberley wrote that blog? It’s written by an anonymous mum and dad of a trans child according to the ‘About’ page. Webberley tweeted the article but was not the author of the article?

The Good Law Grifters are in court next week trying to get the nhs to dish out drugs to kids without proper safeguarding.

Is this the case where they are attempting to force the nhs to see everyone within an 18 week timeframe?

I don't think the youngsters currently affected by this will be easily helped. Any intervention will feed into the persecution complex. I fear a bit of a lost generation, to be honest. We'll need a lot of consistent messaging to achieve even recognition of the need for deprogramming.

I am taking a watchful waiting approach (see what I did there). I think something more is going to come out over the next few days. Once that happens, I will be following up with my TWAW MP in very firm terms. This is a safeguarding issue and mealy mouthed platitude and slogans are not the answer (although I am happy to suggest Better a gay child who feels loved and supported than a gay child who is told they are in the wrong body).

I will also be following up with companies and celebs who chose to back Mermaids to bolster their liberal credentials.

In terms of what happens next to Susie Green, I think its dead easy to work out. A lucrative career in the US or Canada beckons where she can continue to drive the 'im a victim of transphobia attacks' narrative for some time to come.

Interesting. Maybe the terse statement by the trustees, it because they feel she’s abandoning the charity when the shit is just about to hit the fan.

Webberley wants the Good Law Project and the Trans Learning Partnership to advise Mermaids on their next CEO. Crucially both are pro immediate access to drugs for children (and therefore to her personal financial benefit) which is completely at odds with the Cass Review and the tide within the NHS and government.

See my point about doubling double and financial implications of doing so above.

In terms of what happens next to Susie Green, I think its dead easy to work out. A lucrative career in the US or Canada beckons where she can continue to drive the 'im a victim of transphobia attacks' narrative for some time to come.

I think the rumour about an investigation into her personally is just that. A nonsense rumour.

I expect he (Joylon) will be doubling down.

Mermaids remains an important stakeholder in supporting trans children and their carers, in advocating for trans kids’ rights to healthcare, to education, to safety, equality, and well-being.

This is interesting to me. All children have a right to education. Why is there a suggestion that trans identifying children are being denied the right to education/ or have less of a right than children who do not identify as trans?

We can't afford to let it drop. For me, this fight has never been about the demonisation of trans people (IGAF what ppl wear do in the bedroom as long as it's safe, sane and consensual). It's always been about the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults, which often includes trans. They deserve so much better than the current shitshow.

I want to see ethical, evidence-based guidelines for the treatment of gender dysphoria. I want teenagers to be properly assessed rather than blindly affirmed. I want to see decent research into the social contagion around trans in schools - and especially the impact on the gay community. The alarm bells are going off now about the number of teenage girls transitioning and in years to come, I think this will be seen in the same light as toxic dieting (e.g. bulimia) as a red flag for parents to be aware of.

This mess had two distinct masks. Susie Green is one, spearheading medical transition whilst tapping into societal homophobia and teenage disgust at their bodies. The other is Stonewall who seems to be run by Tumblr and the fetish community these days. It's going to take a long time to clean up this mess simply because the mysiogyny runs deep and many places have been captured; not least the universities.

On Maugham

Sarah Phillimore at SVPhillimore
It’s interesting isn’t it, that Jolyon Maugham has yet to offer any public comment on his dear friend Susie Green and all the sterling work she has done over six years at the helm of Mermaids?

Especially in light of the ongoing attempt by Maugham to force the NHS to offer immediate medicalisation to all the ‘trans children’ out there. He has been Green’s loyal lieutenant for years now. If there is any justice, the collapse of Mermaids will take him out too.

The Good Law Grifters are in court next week trying to get the nhs to dish out drugs to kids without proper safeguarding.

That'll be fun.

Absolutely 100% I've never felt like this any other time I've had to contact my MP on other subjects. Before anybody jumps on me, I'm not saying specifically that an MP would would somehow abuse the knowledge of my personal information (once you have a constituent's name and address, it's not a big leap to find their workplace etc), as I do believe they understand the duty of their position - but how about the staff around them? We've seen how TRA MN staff have doxxed posters.

I actually don’t think this is good news.
She will probably skip off happily and carry on damaging children while someone else carries the can for her past “crimes”
She should have gone down with the sinking ship

The blog itself is written anonymously- so it’s not Webberley suggesting The Good Law project, is it? Unless she said that in her tweet, I suppose. The initial suggestion comes from the blog post though.

Also worth pointing out this tweet made by Mermaids at 11.35am on 24th November

Mermaids at mermaids_gender
Mermaids is under attack. Donate today and join the 1,500 people who have already pledged to beat transphobia.

Mermaids is 'under attack' is the official line whilst in the midst of multiple safeguarding concerns.

The charity's official line is notably tied up with its strategy to get donations. This is a major issue for Mermaids.

Notably its not 'donate today to make the lives of children better'. Its donate today to save our embattled charity 'cos transphobia'. With no comment on resolving these safeguarding concerns the charity is embroiled in.

Remember Mermaids financial model is based on grants from public bodies, larger charities like children in need and the lottery and smaller donations coming from its legitimacy as a charity recommended by the NHS and Department for Education.

Once you pull those - which has happened - Mermaids has a financial black hole that i think needs explicitly spelling out as its an important factor about where it now finds itself and what options it has for the future post Susie Green.

The path Mermaids set by a fundraising strategy based on being under siege is limited in its scope. And tbh is unlikely to be able to sustain the number of employees it has left. Mermaids grew fast and in some ways now finds itself bloated beyond its means. Its financially unsustainable without a serious rethink of how it gets money going forward. I'm guessing that financials over the last couple of months have not been great.

That tweet is problematic going forward and again makes it more difficult for Mermaids. It's hard to see how you disassociate the concept of 'crying transphobia by default' by instead suggesting there is a personality cult around Green or Green is solely responsible for the charity's current path. Especially when you've been a Trustee who has continued to give Green the benefit of the doubt for so long.

To reflect on possible outcomes

ripx4nutmeg at ripx4nutmeg
Prediction: It will turn out she was sacked as another scandal is about to be unearthed, Mermaids will then appoint someone 'trans' as its new CEO and say all the problems were because it wasn't a 'trans led charity' but lessons have now been learnt

I think tweet this is a good representation of the trap Mermaids now face. Appoint someone non-trans and willing to try to reinvent away from scandal and build a new financial funding model and you get one backlash from the core support Mermaids has left itself dependent on for money. Appoint someone trans or effectively double down in another way and you make the problem worse with scrutiny and the ever shrinking pool of people who will continue to donate to you.

By aligning the concept of transphobia as being the same as scrutiny into the charity's safeguarding failures you create a situation where you cannot fix the safeguarding and financial problems of the charity without deliberately inviting abuse back on the charity from its remaining key supporters if it decides to (or is forced to) now change course.

As a charity which does uturn in order to return to a broader base it has to acknowledge those safeguarding issues but that in itself undermines the ideology its been pushing and that has trust implications too.

This mess Mermaids has got itself into is paradoxically probably why Susie Green survived as long as she did. It was about money and Green was bringing home the gravy. Now the charity finds itself in a position where its run out of rope to hang itself and that problem is retained even with Green's departure.

You cannot fix this by screaming transphobia anymore.

It does beg a massive question about the viability of the charity or whether it will be forced to shrink and scale back even if it does survive.

These same questions will also be raised of other similar charities but they may be able to weather the storm better if they don't adopt as strong a line on 'its transphobia' as Mermaids.

Mermaids are a busted flush imho. How they go down is what to watch for. I don't see it being anything but messy.

@Kucinghitam I understand your concern but isn't it shocking that you feel that way, that any of us would feel that way, about approaching your MP?