What they got from me this morning. Will also raise concerns around governance with the Charity Commission
“Dear Oxfam
I have been a monthly gift aid supporter of Oxfam since 1996. I am also a woman who holds the protected belief that sex is immutable and that women should be allowed single sex spaces and same sex relationships without having to accommodate males who identify as women. I believe that there should be separate and equivalent provision for trans people. This is a complex area that requires mature debate to balance the rights of women and trans people. In particular, taking into account women who for reasons of trauma, religion or culture could not share spaces with a biological male and may self exclude if males were allowed in a space or a service.
I would expect Oxfam with its international remit to understand the trauma some women face and the cultural and religious differences that exist in different communities. Would Oxfam expect women who had suffered rape during a war to have to share services with an intact biological male simply because he stated he was a women? If Oxfam was providing services and support in communities where religious or cultural beliefs meant that women and men would not share certain facilities demand that a biological male was allowed into the women's space if he stated he was female?
I feel that this image in your recent Pride Video is directly aimed at women like me. It is demonising us for holding beliefs that have been recognised as protected under the Equality Act 2010 in Forstater v CGD Europe and Others. Furthermore the term TERF has been recognised as derogatory in two separate court cases (in Miller v The College of Policing and others Mr Justice Knowles indicated that it is used by those who wish to deplatform those who hold different views and in Bailey v Stonewall, Garden Court Chambers and others Employment Judge Goodman likened it to a racial slur). The image is misogynistic, ageist and employs crude racial stereotypes. It is deeply offensive and discriminatory.
Pride 2023 | Oxfam International (https://www.oxfam.org/en/pride-2023)
I am incredibly disappointed and upset to see Oxfam vilifying women's concerns in this way especially as those beliefs are protected in law.
If Oxfam does not provide the following I will cancel my donation and find a different international aid organisation to support:-
- A full public apology for this offensive image; and
- An independent review into the processes that allowed this image to be used in the first place; and
- A review of Oxfam's diversity and equality training to ensure that it recognises all protected characteristics and beliefs appropriately; and
- Details of the cost of producing this discriminatory video and whether or not supporter donations funded it.”