Lucy Bannerman Times article today: Stonewall ‘backing transgender bullies’
(extract)
"Stonewall, the country’s most prominent gay rights charity, has come under fire from well-known supporters for “demonising” anyone who speaks out about transgender issues.
Leading members of the lesbian, gay, transsexual and intersex community have started a petition urging the charity to rethink its transgender policy, saying that they are fed up with its refusal to recognise other viewpoints.
In a letter published in The Times today, they said that Stonewall’s advocacy of extreme transgender politics was threatening women’s rights, undermining gay and lesbian identity and stifling freedom of speech. They accused Stonewall of refusing to recognise LGBT people who oppose the hostile tactics of transgender activists.
Transgender campaigners say that they represent a vulnerable, marginalised group but critics accuse them of bullying opponents.
Signatories include Alison Moyet, the singer and longtime advocate of gay rights; Jonathan Best, former director of the Manchester festival Queer Up North; Paul Burston, the novelist and former LGBT editor of Time Out; and Philip Hensher, the Man Booker-shortlisted novelist once named Stonewall Journalist of the Year. (continues)
concudes, The letter said: “We urge Stonewall to acknowledge . . . specifically that a conflict exists between transgenderism and sex-based women’s rights. We call on Stonewall to commit to fostering an atmosphere of respectful debate rather than demonising as transphobic those who wish to discuss, or dissent from, Stonewall’s transgender policies.”
Mr Best said that while in the past gay activists had fought for legislative equality, today’s transgender activists had “an extreme identity politics” and wanted to “redefine sex and gender for the whole of society”.
“Men are not women — and your bullying will not persuade us differently,” he said.
Stonewall declined to comment."
www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/stonewall-backing-transgender-bullies-slvn00vng