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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Ruth Hunt is leaving Stonewall

411 replies

Whatisthisfuckery · 21/02/2019 16:21

Just seen this on Twitter.

twitter.com/ruth_hunt/status/1098604129394585601?s=21

I’d like to think her successor will be less homophobic. We shall see, although I’m not holding out much hope.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
25
EmpressAdultHumanFemale · 24/02/2019 11:30

Now I am ready to vomit every time I see a stupid bloody uniform rainbow

Yep. This lesbian wouldn’t touch the rainbow with a bargepole nowadays. It feels like a threat.

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 24/02/2019 11:33

I made the mistake of mentioning the whole ‘lesbians who won’t sleep with a man who says he is a woman is a transphobe’ to my sister. She had heard of it...

NothingOnTellyAgain · 24/02/2019 11:37

""Many other longstanding supporters of Stonewall, including transsexuals, share our concerns and dismay that the very organisation we helped to fund and turn into the ‘go to’ LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] authority, advising political parties and corporates, is now telling schoolchildren that a bearded man with a penis can be a lesbian and any girls and boys deviating from 1950s gender norms are in the wrong body.”"

Note that this is a quote of a funder who has left.
Sounds like an important one though.

EmpressAdultHumanFemale · 24/02/2019 11:37

And what did she think, Fekko?

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 24/02/2019 12:52

Needless to say she wasn’t impressed.

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD · 24/02/2019 12:55

I was clearing DS’ midden out and found an article that they had been given for an English assignment ages ago.

It was from the Gruniard all about the stonewall riots (it was all about gay men apparently) and how the nasty straight people wanted to castrate all the queers. The words Lesbian or woman wasn't used in the whole adolescent-style whine. It really was all about the boys.

I’ve made some crib notes and pointers on it for him.

FlyingOink · 24/02/2019 13:53

I wonder if Hunt will ever realise what she's done. I might be being over-generous. She might already know and not care.

Lamaha · 24/02/2019 14:02

The reason I found Mumsnet was that I was a member of another forum; had been for many years. I made the mistake of commenting on a poster who seemed to think that genderneutral toilets were so normal anyone who was against them was an idiot -- his word. So I made some arguments for same sex toilets; the first critical comment. People came after me with pitchforks! Especially one woman, a known lesbian, who said I should "educate myself" and called me transphobic and a terf. ONE single person came out in support, and sent me a PM saying I should check out Mumsnet. Then I came here.

I made one last comment asking for people's opinion as to whether lesbians should sleep with penis-having transwomen, but I never returned to see how the discussion continued.

I have left that forum completely. I hope they have all educated themselves now, in the wake of the Marina N. story and all the GC articles not turning up.

R0wantrees · 24/02/2019 14:34

But if she wasn't the ideologue-in-chief at Stonewall, who was?

Pressure had been exerted on Stonewall prior to Ruth Hun't appointment.
Its interesting to note Edward Lord's comment on her appointment. Lord had been involved previously in lobbying for Bisexual rights, though much of his & his partner Dr Meg-John Barker's focus seems to be on securing non-binary/trans/queer/kink rights:

January 2014 article:
'Stonewall: a new dawn for the UK’s top LGBT equality campaign
Anyone who has read my blog on LGB&T issues may have noticed a scepticism in my tone about the work of Stonewall, the biggest and most influential equal rights campaign in the United Kingdom, this despite being listed by them amongst 17 LGB ‘Role Models’ in their publication of that name back in 2012.

In recent years, Stonewall, and more particularly its egregious Chief Executive, Ben Summerskill, has put itself on the wrong side of debates – arguing for example in 2010 that there was no need to campaign for equal marriage as civil partnerships were quite sufficient. Furthermore, Summerskill steadfastly refused to allow Stonewall in England to support trans* people in their battle for equality; and, most recently, he has consistently used the term ‘gay’ to cover all queer folk, which risks excluding those who identify as lesbian, bisexual, or in some other way that best suits them.

Then, last Thursday came the news that many LGB&T activists across the UK have long been waiting for. Ben has gone.

In his place as Acting Chief Executive is Ruth Hunt: Ben’s Deputy since last last April and a leading campaigner with the charity since 2005. In my experience of Ruth she is not only a highly effective lobbyist but also far more considered in approach and willing to listen to all sections of our communities.

Ruth has already made clear that she wishes to adopt a far more open and inclusive approach to Stonewall’s work. In her first tweet as Acting CEO she loyally said that she was proud to carry on Ben’s legacy but recognised that there is lots to do in Britain and around the world to end homophobia and biphobia.

The very mention of biphobia, recognising that bisexual people do face distinct discrimination both within LGB&T communities and beyond, is already a major step forward for Stonewall becoming genuinely inclusive in its campaigns." (continues)
edwardlord.org/2014/01/28/stonewall-a-new-dawn-for-the-uks-top-lgbt-equality-campaign/

threads:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3459026-Edward-Lord-asking-the-Sunday-Times-to-censor-Andrew-Gilligan

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3352843-First-there-was-Jess-Bradley-then-the-Challenors-now-Edward-Lord

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3380245-The-City-of-London-consultation-didn-t-go-quite-as-they-hoped

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3317922-City-of-London-Corporation-consultation-is-out-this-covers-Hampstead-Ponds

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3323475-Surprise-The-Masons-now-welcome-Transwomen-but-not-women

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3398737-We-re-Still-Here-Conference-8th-September-A-report-from-the-inside

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3354366-The-Times-reports-on-BACPs-regressive-sexist-guidelines-for-therapists

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3339137-BACP-Gender-Sexual-and-Relationship-Diversity-by-Dr-Meg-John-Barker

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3396169-John-Bercow-sex-pest-ridicules-GC-Women-friend-of-Pink-News-Edward-Lord-who-refused-UQ-about-prison-policy-following-Karen-White-Case-Unconnected

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3316098-Childrens-Convenor-Elected-Councillor-calls-women-cunts-on-Twitter-rants

R0wantrees · 24/02/2019 14:43

cf Sheila Jeffries talk at the first 'We Need To Talk' meeting which took place after Maria Machlaclan was assaulted at Speakers' Corner.

Sheila Jeffries described transgenderism as a 'mens sexual rights movement' and identifies it presence being evident since the 1970's:

'What Is Gender?'

see thread collating historic trans rights lobbying:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3463920-Lets-go-back-to-2007

AngryAttackKittens comment about the thread:
I'm going to point every "but the nice, harmless old school transsexuals whose movement has been unfairly appropriated by the nasty transgender people" person to this thread from now on.

All the same elements we're seeing now were there in that old BBC roundtable from the 70s with the 4 transwomen, the politician, and the doctor. None of this is new.
(link to the program)
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06c83f4/player

R0wantrees · 24/02/2019 14:46

And also what's the board's role and position in all this?

Significant, no doubt!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3488261-The-Financial-Juggernaut-that-is-Stonewall

See also the role of the Stonewall Trans Advisory group discussed by Miranda Yardley:
'Ma Vie En Rose: Ruth Hunt’s Rose-Tinted Trans*Goggles and the anti-Woman Politics of Stonewall'
POSTED ON 16TH NOVEMBER 2017
mirandayardley.com/en/ma-vie-en-rose-ruth-hunts-rose-tinted-transgoggles-and-the-anti-woman-politics-of-stonewall/

R0wantrees · 24/02/2019 15:06

current thread, OP Birdsfoottrefoil wrote:

'Scottish Hate Crime Consultation
Scottish Government is consulting on Hate Crime including if gender identity should include intersex. Stonewall have given them advice. ‘Sex’ is replaced with ‘gender’. Please respond - the deadline is 24 Feb. (today)

consult.gov.scot/hate-crime/consultation-on-scottish-hate-crime-legislation/

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3510551-Scottish-Hate-Crime-Consultation

WeRiseUp · 24/02/2019 15:25

R0wan you are amazing!

EatCashews · 24/02/2019 15:28

R0wan, you're on fire this afternoon!

R0wantrees · 24/02/2019 15:42

Thanks both, I am just c&ping whilst putting off pruning a rose bush! Smile

R0wantrees · 24/02/2019 15:50

Ruth Hunt and Stonewall have yet to account for their role in supporting and enabling Aimee Challenor's rise to political and organisational influence along with their apparent failure to recognise AC's vunerabilities and lack of understanding of Safeguarding.

Challenor has attributed Stonewall's training to enabling them to achieve prominance in the Green Party.
AC became involved with Stonewall as a 17 year old care leaver and there seems some indication that AC was directly supported by senior members of Stonewall Trans Advisory Group as well as CEO Ruth Hunt. THere are unanswered Safeguarding concerns:
threads:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3477761-Andrew-Gilligan-Times-Green-high-flyer-Aimee-Challenor-hid-father-s-rape-charges-David-Challenor-A-paedophile-rapist-posed-a-major-safeguarding-risk-for-almost-two-years

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3474311-Veritas-report-due-tomorrow-Thursday-at-midday-re-Aimee-Challenor

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3355712-Aimee-Challenor-Stonewall

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3366278-Ruth-Hunt-Stonewall-CEO

Muddysnowdrop · 24/02/2019 16:00

I’ve just done the Scottish government consultation, thanks for the link Rowantrees (so it’s definitely still available to complete if anyone wants to) I got very confused with the mention of gender as a hate crime term - they have an amazing opportunity to support women and they want to call it gender?

R0wantrees · 24/02/2019 16:16

There is a current narrative that there is rising level of transphobia in UK as a consequence of 'transphobic hot beds' such as Mumsnet etc & Conservatve Govt not implementing self-id GRA
The police data of reported transphobic 'hate crimes' will be used to validate this. So too data from Social Media, Guardian etc

Times article by Elizabeth Burden January 24 2019
'Principal backs transgender students over ‘hurtful’ stickers'
(extract)
She claimed that transgender activists encouraged people to report individual stickers as hate crimes to maximise the number of alleged offences. On Facebook last November, James Morton, the Scottish Trans Alliance (STA) manager, responding to a comment on the Edinburgh stickers, said: “Please log it by reporting on the Police Scotland online hate crime form. We need the stats.” Vic Valentine, a policy officer for STA, said: “If people feel distressed by transphobic stickers, we encourage them to report [it] to police. We want to improve trans people’s confidence in approaching the police.”

Kai O’Doherty, the Edinburgh University Students’ Association’s vice-president for welfare, said the stickers were “not only hurtful to trans people, but are clear violations of policies against harassment and discrimination”. (continues)

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/principal-backs-transgender-students-over-hurtful-stickers-9jpztg2tz?shareToken=d88353c4898053a91393d93358861e98

thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3488212-The-Times-Edinburgh-Uni-principle-to-discipline-transphobic-stickerwoman

Needmoresleep · 24/02/2019 18:26

Now covered by the Mail, with good prominence to quotes from disaffected donors:
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6739755/Stonewall-chief-resigns-amid-growing-protest-gay-lesbian-supporters.html

Just a copy of the Times story, but not behind a paywall, and with a large readership.

youllhavehadyourtea · 24/02/2019 18:33

Nothing in the Guardian?

R0wantrees · 24/02/2019 19:00

From The Mail:
Jan Gooding, Chair of the Board of Trustees, said Ms Hunt would be missed dearly

She also praised the chief executive for increasing the organisation's income from £5.38 million to £8.69 million during her reign.

In a statement she wrote: 'When Ruth took the reins of the organisation in 2014, Stonewall was a very different place.

'Over the course of her tenure, she has changed the organisation’s culture, expanded our remit and shown an unequivocal commitment to supporting parts of the LGBT communities that have been traditionally excluded.

‘Specifically, her commitment to integrate trans communities into Stonewall’s work, following a period of extensive consultation, has been and will continue to be integral to our development as an organisation.

'This is a journey that is fully supported and championed by the entire Board of Trustees

So Ruth Hunt as CEO was personally liked, increased income and changed the charity's remit to focus on lobbying trans-ideology which are the confirmed as being the aims of the board?

At some point the charity commission will look at this charity.

XXcstatic · 24/02/2019 19:01

This lesbian wouldn’t touch the rainbow with a bargepole nowadays. It feels like a threat

This. Every time I walk past the rainbow banners in Birmingham New Street, on my way to work, I feel threatened. Which is so sad, because I have been campaigning for LGB rights for 20 years Sad

R0wantrees · 24/02/2019 19:05

from recent thread, OP womanformallyknownaswoman wrote:

" The Financial Juggernaut that is Stonewall
Extracts from the 2017 Financial Accounts of Stonewall:

2017 Total income £7.2m

Donations 1.7m
Grants 0.9m (total income from govt 0.65.million)
Sponsorship 0.4m
Events 0.8m
Fees 2.2m
Programs 0.5m

2017 Total expenditure £6.1m

fundraising 1m
campaigns/policy/research 2.5m
employment advice 1.6
empowerment programs 1m

2.3m Support costs ( £0.5m gen mgt costs, 4 people paid > £60k)
Key mgt personnel: CEO,MD,exec dir x2 - total employee benefits of those 4: £300k

Trustees: Jonathan Andrews, Richard Beaven, Simon Blake, Katie Cornhill, Catherine Dixon, Jan Gooding (Chair), Sheldon Mills, Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, Rosalyn Parker, Lisa Pinney (Treasurer), Oliver Rowe, Tim Toulon, Mohsin Zaidi

CEO Ruth Hunt
Secretary Maxine Draper

4 core strategic priorities:

•Empowering individuals
•Transforming institutions
•Changing hearts and minds
•Changing laws

Here’s some information about Jan Gooding, Stonewall Chair, who seems to have overseen the financialisation of Stonewall from charity into deep pocketed lobby group:

Jan Gooding Group Brand Director Aviva

Jan is one of the most senior directors in the Aviva Group and is responsible for the leadership, oversight and governance of brand and marketing strategy worldwide. She is the very visible sponsor of the LGBT employee network Aviva Pride, and was elected Chair of Trustees of Stonewall in May 2014. This year she guided the board of trustees through a change in the remit of Stonewall to include ‘T’ in the focus of their activities, and in March she gave the annual lecture to the Employment Lawyers Association, addressing over 500 lawyers, QC’s and judges across the country on the areas of concern to Stonewall as the legal changes took hold.

From her public Linkedin Profile:

Jan Gooding is a marketing leader with a career which has included senior executive roles working with blue chip companies like BT, British Gas, Diageo, Unilever and, most latterly, as the Group Brand director at Aviva. She was responsible for unifying the c£400K global marketing spend under the brand idea 'Good Thinking'. In her final role at Aviva, as their first Global Inclusion Director, she led the introduction of the ground-breaking policy of equal parental leave.
-She is currently the Chair of LGBT equality charity Stonewall, which reaches and supports LGBT activists in over 70 countries worldwide. When she took over the helm, Stonewall was focussed on equality based on people’s sexual orientation, and did not actively campaign on gender identity issues-. Under her leadership Stonewall extended it remit to campaign for trans equality in 2015.
She was appointed President of MRS (Market Research Society) April 2017. And is a Fellow of the Marketing Society and member of WACL (Women in Advertising and Communication London).
Jan is known to be one of the UK’s most outspoken marketing leaders on the subjects ranging from building global brands to inclusive leadership.

Her remarks from 2018 Stonewall Review:

Now is such a critical time for Stonewall, as we continue to fight for all aspects of LGBT inclusion. Reflecting on the year now coming to an end, 2018 has been a difficult year, particularly for trans people. They have faced a barrage of negative coverage, and we at Stonewall have made no bones about using our voice and our platform to directly confront it. But the struggle for lesbian, gay and bi equality hasn’t let up either.
We stand up forpeople.
We stand up for the respect and acceptance of L, plus G, plus B, plus T, plus, plus, plus: we stand up for people. For just as we jointly suffer from hate, discrimination and ignorance from certain quarters of society, we are united by, and stand together, to insist on equality for everyone.
One thing is true. We do draw a line with regard to questioning whether trans people deserve the same level of equality as any other group. This aspect of the current media frenzy is not up for debate.
We also believe that giving greater equality and respect to trans people will not negatively impact the rights of women or any other group.
We know that acceptance and respect for all LGBT+ people is not achieved through false ‘debates’ on social media.
We know that the acceptance and respect we seek for all LGBT+ people is not achieved through false ‘debates’ on social media. It is done by hard work on the ground, day after day, in our schools, communities and workplaces.
Here are a few examples of what our brilliant staff and volunteers have been up to:
•For the first time we attended 30 Prides,reaching some communities for the first time.
•Our hardworking Information Service dealt with over 5,550 calls and emails.
•We now have over 1,500 Stonewall School Champions and trained 2,300 teachers, all of whom are now working to make schools safe and inclusive spaces for LGBT pupils. Importantly, 458 of these are schools with faith values.
•We launched a new international programme to work with 29 organisations in 25 countries to specifically address human rights violations faced by lesbians, bi women and trans people over the next two years.
•We successfully lobbied the Government to make Relationships and Sex Education, and Health Education, compulsory in all of England’s schools and LGBT inclusive.
•As part of our international ‘Access to Justice’ programme, we trained 118 police, prosecutors and policy-makers in Europe on hate crime and LGBT equality and diversity.
•No less than 25 leading global organisations, employing 1.3 million people across the world, demonstrated their commitment to improving workplace equality by entering our Global Workplace Equality Index.
•We successfully lobbied the Government to reduce the period that gay and bi men need to have had no sexual activity before donating blood from 12 months to 3 months.
•Following our extensive lobbying, the UK Government launched a consultation on reforming the Gender Recognition Act (2004) which received record coverage and a huge response from our supporters." (continues)
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3488261-The-Financial-Juggernaut-that-is-Stonewall

DoctoressPlague · 24/02/2019 19:08

Nothing in the Guardian?

Nope. Their most recent articles on Ruth Hunt/Stonewall:

Ruth Hunt tells Owen Jones: 'My heart breaks for trans communities' – video interview April 2018

Owen Jones: The truth about Stonewall – the LGBT group that won't support London Pride July 2018
"From the outside, the spat between Britain’s biggest Pride festival and the country’s main LGBT organisation may look a bit Queer Front of Judea. Earlier this year, Stonewall pulled out of this Saturday’s Pride in London festival, citing a lack of diversity and committing to back Black Pride instead. UK Pride has hit back with a survey showing that Pride organisers rate Stonewall poorly. Ouch.

Without wishing to intervene too much in this internecine grief, Stonewall does not deserve to be disparaged. Until relatively recently, the organisation seemed as though it catered for white, gay, middle-class, cis men, who dominate the LGBT world. Its focus was on securing legal rights, often via a softly-softly, “cups of tea with powerful people” approach. Even then, it refused for a long time to support equal marriage. One of its biggest letdowns was to fail to include trans people in its campaign for equality.

This has changed radically under Ruth Hunt, who has run the organisation for four years. There are still clear limits to Stonewall’s radicalism – it is, after all, dependent on corporate donations – but Hunt has addressed many of its failings. It apologised for “harm that we have caused” for failing to campaign for trans rights and has proved an invaluable ally to trans people, not least during the recent anti-trans media moral panic. Hunt has been inundated with abuse for taking a brave stance, including from anti-trans activists infuriated that a cis, self-described “butch lesbian” is a leading trans ally (their narrative has been that trans rights is brocialist and anti-women )."

You got the bit in bold right, Owen.

DoctoressPlague · 24/02/2019 19:11

So Ruth Hunt as CEO was personally liked, increased income and changed the charity's remit to focus on lobbying trans-ideology which are the confirmed as being the aims of the board?

Looking at this chronologically is helpful:
focus on lobbying trans ideology -> increased income -> Ruth Hunt as CEO was liked.