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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Tell me about Stonewall Allies Training

21 replies

Changename5000 · 04/01/2020 10:08

Email in work out this company coming in to do training....

OP posts:
User182756 · 04/01/2020 10:12

If it is anything like the 'Train the Trainer' course it trained us to tell people they were wrong to disagree with the Stonewall ideals. They have specific booklets for what to say to religious communities etc. They also made us match up definitions with Stonewall language. That was four years ago and there were 25 words...bet there are more now! It was grim.

Changename5000 · 04/01/2020 10:25

Its to 'empower non-LGBT staff' explore what it means to be 'Ally'

I cant really copy and paste the email...

OP posts:
DryHeave · 04/01/2020 12:16

So it requires people to out themselves at work? “I can’t be an ally because I’m actually LGBT myself”.

Michelleoftheresistance · 04/01/2020 12:40

Personally, I'd quietly approach HR and explain that being LGB, I find Stonewall homophobic and hostile to LGB people, explain about the LGB Alliance split and its reasons, and that I had serious concerns about the inclusiveness or safety of LGB people in Stonewall's 'vision'. And that I'd have to think very seriously about continuing to work for an organisation 'allying' itself to homophobic politics. But purely from the point of view of concern for your workplace I'd be quietly mentioning to a manager and/or HR:

There has been an assumption this far that Stonewall are like the National Trust or the RSPB or Great Ormond Street: the government supported, national institution of objective, neutral experts on their subject, and they have held that level of public trust. They also have nice shiny plaques etc to stick in the front lobby like other neutral groups who do workplace qualifications around healthy eating/ quality assurance/ etc etc, and so look like just another approved demonstration of quality. It has to be made clear that you might as well commission training intended to form policy by Green Peace or Momentum; it's a highly partisan political lobby with a specific agenda. It does not comply with current British Law and seeks to overturn it by influencing policies and practice via their training. (This can be easily evidenced.) This leaves the organisation potentially vulnerable to legal proceedings.

Due diligence must be carried out on the trainers to ensure that they are actually qualified to speak and advise on subjects that involve the Equality Act (ie training and qualifications in ALL groups under the EQA, not just transgendered people) and safeguarding, as trainings have been carried out where this has not been the case. (This can be easily evidenced. Not to mention as far as I'm aware there is one person who has delivered such training currently under investigation and another having been declared 'incapable of understanding safeguarding' by an inquiry.) Setting up policy around one specific group without equally considering ALL protected groups and the impact upon them may break the law and leave the organisation open to legal proceedings. It may also be highly embarrassing for the company if in the future the trainer or policies turn out to be connected with a safeguarding/ethics issue.

Many organisations have standard principles of not 'allying' with any one political point of view, and have been innocent to the fact that when inviting Stonewall training they are doing so. Will the company openly 'allying' itself to be compliant with and representative of a specific political position be something they would deliberately choose to do? Might there be possible consequences to consider first?

Michelleoftheresistance · 04/01/2020 12:41

Oh and of course the anti woman, anti safeguarding and homophobic policies of Stonewall. (Reams and reams and reams of evidence.) Are those values the company wants to publicly declare alliance to?

Michelleoftheresistance · 04/01/2020 12:49

Beside the point, I might also mutter that any training offer including wanky phrases like 'empower' is so noughties it's getting a bit embarrassing now.

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 04/01/2020 12:51

'empower non-LGBT staff' explore what it means to be 'Ally''

Does this win a prize for the most pointless and nonsensical use of the word 'empower' so far this millennium?

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 04/01/2020 12:51

X post Michelle!

SidJS · 04/01/2020 13:00

Ask them to explain the currently undiscovered biological mechanism which enables humans to change from male to female and if all the cells of ones body are made up of male or female cells (chromosomes), how can you have a female brain inside a male body (or visa versa) without having a brain transplant...

Apologies...I can’t stop the sarcasm dripping...

Ask them that all members of staff need to have allies and supported. Why are the perceived needs and comfort of some staff prioritised over the needs of others?

Uncompromisingwoman · 04/01/2020 13:41

It's setting up co workers to 'police' their colleagues. A form of surveillance like they used to have in communist Russia.
A woman with the wrong expression on unexpectedly finding a man in the loo - reported.
Someone not using pronouns on their emails - reported.
Wrongthink - reported.

It's a tool for enforcing a totalitarian misogynistic belief on the unwilling.

littlbrowndog · 04/01/2020 13:48

Seems like that uncompromising woman

Does as we tell you and shut up women. Submit

TheCountessofFitzdotterel · 04/01/2020 14:00

'It's setting up co workers to 'police' their colleagues'

Yes, spot on.

Uncompromisingwoman · 04/01/2020 14:08

Apologies for my cynicism. But when I look at people who really need support in the workplace - those struggling with mental health difficulties, people trying to maintain a job while coping with chemotherapy and the impact of serious illnesses, single working parents with sick children, people with learning difficulties trying to manage the workplace, pregnant women coping with the impact of pregnancy on their working life to mention just a few - it gives me the rage that this bloated organisation sucks so much energy from workplaces in setting up faux strategies to support a small group of people while nobody sets up allies or support for the many working people struggling with so many of life's challenges.

Changename5000 · 05/01/2020 11:22

Stonewalls Allies programme empowers non-LGBT people- It enables them to explore what it means to be an ally and identify how they are going to create more inclusive workplaces and communities, and impact positively on the lives of LGBT people.

This one-day, CPD-accredited programme offers the chance for up to 36 participants to:

• Develop an understanding of how different identities shape our lived experiences.
• Understand the diversity of LGBT experiences.
• Develop active listening skills and techniques for having productive conversations.
• Understand what it means to be an inclusive ally.
• Develop an action plan to step up as an inclusive ally.

The Stonewall one-day Allies Programme gives non-LGBT individuals the opportunity to explore what it means to be an ally and the space to identify how they are going to create an inclusive environment for everyone.

Stonewalls Allies Programme is designed for non-LGBT individuals at any level & business area & encourage diversity in terms of ethnicity, people of faith, disabled people and women – and those at the intersections of these identities.

Thoughts

OP posts:
AutumnRose1 · 05/01/2020 11:23

It’s CPD accredited?!

Can you opt out and say it’s because you’re non binary and therefore need allies?

CraicMammy · 05/01/2020 11:28

In the age of self-identification, I’d tell HR that I ID myself as L/G/B or T they can hardly argue

Changename5000 · 05/01/2020 11:48

People have to request a place.

I just wondered what your thought were on the whole thing, what is it to achieve?

Surely organisations are inclusive anyway?

OP posts:
AutumnRose1 · 05/01/2020 11:49

Well OP, there's a whole load of complexity around organisations being inclusive - of what - and of course your place is just one place.

if it's opt-in, just ignore it. Zero take up would be good.

Michelleoftheresistance · 05/01/2020 11:57

I'm willing to bet the 'diversity of the LGBT experience' isn't diverse enough to acknowledge female homosexuality or gender critical beliefs.

Uncompromisingwoman · 05/01/2020 12:13

It's worth remembering that the space to identify how they are going to create an inclusive environment for everyone will include participants signing up to actively remove safe sex segregated spaces from women thus making the workplace less safe and more hostile for those reliant on those sex segregated spaces.
You won't find a thread on here or anywhere from women celebrating that they now get to share toilets and changing rooms with men. Yet being a Stonewall ally will depend on participants supporting this. Grooming in plain sight.

SidJS · 05/01/2020 12:50

Changeaname

‘Stonewalls Allies Programme is designed for non-LGBT individuals at any level & business area & encourage diversity in terms of ethnicity, people of faith, disabled people and women

I identify as Woman - Adult Human Female

Is that allowed in Stonewall’s inclusive society or does that make me a bigot?

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