Mary Harrington in DM: When a group set up to fight homophobia is at war with a lesbian champion of gay rights, it's no longer fit for purpose

[yourhairiswinterfire]

www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-9608277/MARY-HARRINGTON-group-fighting-homophobia-clashes-gay-rights-champion-theres-issue.html

Article on Allison Bailey v Stonewall. Maya even gets a mention, too!

Mary Harrington is really formidable, she's got a mind like a razor blade. I don't entirely agree with her worldview (she seems a bit kinder/kuche/kirche) but she and Louise Perry are utterly fearless and incredibly clever.

Fantastic article! So clearly spelled out.

And bonus marks because every single mention of ‘gender’ and ‘gender identity’ has scare quotes round it. I think I’ll start doing that. Maybe in conversation too with rabbit ear gestures?

Just read that article and was about to start a thread on it!

This bit about the EHRC:

And as the MoS reports today, the watchdog has now cut ties with Stonewall, ending its own Stonewall Diversity Champions membership.

Is that right?

and these final paragraphs are blistering:

This isn’t just about the freedom of lesbians or gay men to form same-sex couples without stigma. It’s not just about the mad irony of someone with Allison Bailey’s progressive credentials being persecuted for wrongthink by the charity that should be her staunchest ally. It’s also about the sinister power of a multi-million-pound lobbying giant, with tentacles that reach deep into hundreds of public and private organisations, to use that power to silence anyone that deviates from woke orthodoxy.

Do our Government and public bodies still care about the freedom of ordinary citizens to dissent from progressive dogma?

Or does Stonewall have such a stranglehold on our institutions that even an impeccably Left-wing black lesbian barrister will find herself ‘stonewalled’ for voicing heretical views?

The outcome of Allison Bailey’s case should concern us all.

I've said it before and I'll say it again there must be a public enquiry into Stonewall and their activities. Government and Charity Commission wake up and investigate this.

This is the article The Times should have published months ago.

Hang on…
And as the MoS reports today, the watchdog has now cut ties with Stonewall, ending its own Stonewall Diversity Champions membership

Can’t find their report on this - perhaps not on their website yet. But wow!
Not before time.

If it is true that EHRC has withdrawn from the Stonewall Diversity membership that suggests the winds of change are beginning to blow and not before time, the dominoes must start to fall now.

Blistering. Mary H is an excellent journalist.

This gets to the heart of it:

"Stonewall’s activities pose an active threat to its original constituency."

In 2010 Stonewall was such a moderate, cautious organisation that it couldn't make up its mind whether it favoured same-sex marriage or not. Yet only five years or so later it attached itself to the extremist wing of TRA.

"Blistering" really is the word for it. Wow! And I do hope that's true about the EHRC!

"Founded in 1989, the lobby group had achieved its last major LGB equality goal when gay marriage passed into UK law in 2014."

A very clear and well reasoned argument, the guardian had something recently too that made me think perhaps the emporers new clothes are being recognised. Can't seem to find a link to it.

Brilliant piece

@MidsomerMurmurs

Hang on… And as the MoS reports today, the watchdog has now cut ties with Stonewall, ending its own Stonewall Diversity Champions membership

Can’t find their report on this - perhaps not on their website yet. But wow!
Not before time.

I bet this is why the Stonewall Diversity Champions page online got taken off the Stonewall website.

Losing the EHRC is the biggie, isn't it?

I absolutely love Mary Harrington's writing. I've read articles by her on loads of stuff and loved them all.

I think she's a Mumsnetter too.

I bet this is why the Stonewall Diversity Champions page online got taken off the Stonewall website.

Losing the EHRC is the biggie, isn't it?

Well spotted Pear. Government departments have got to do likewise being a member is anathema to impartiality due to the lobbying and dictating Stonewall do and how can any Government department or publicly funded institute maintain ties with an organisation that persistently and deliberately falsifies what the Law as laid down by Parliament actually says. No-one elected Stonewall, they do not have the democratic right to make up Laws as they see fit.

@MidsomerMurmurs

Hang on… And as the MoS reports today, the watchdog has now cut ties with Stonewall, ending its own Stonewall Diversity Champions membership

Can’t find their report on this - perhaps not on their website yet. But wow!
Not before time.

Novina has posted a thread that links to the announcement which quotes a letter from Falkener in response to a letter from Sex Matters :

“as a publicly funded organisation we have to ensure that we are making the best choices when it comes to our budget and have recently been reviewing all of our memberships”
“We wrote to Stonewall in March to let them know that we would not be renewing our membership, and this has now expired.”

sex-matters.org/posts/updates/press-release-equality-and-human-rights-commission-cuts-ties-with-stonewall/

Matthew Parris has written something very similar in today’s Sunday Times

She says "And as the MoS reports today, the watchdog has now cut ties with Stonewall, ending its own Stonewall Diversity Champions membership. " but I can't find that report.

The FTSE 100 should now seriously be considering whether they want to continue their association with such a tarnished organisation

I've said this on the other thread but ceasing to be a Stonewall Diversity Champion does not mean that the EHRC has cut ties with Stonewall, ie they may include them in discussions in the future.

But the EHRC ceasing to be a Diversity Champion is a huge blow to the validity of the scheme.

Hopefull a lot of other organisaitons will also opt out of it. I dont care if the do it quietly, but as soon as it is acknowledged to be anything but diversity the better.

I wonder how many organisations and companies are going to look round for a fall guy to blame for every getting them involved in something so obvious without merit.

Have now read the article. It has many of the same arguements as the Matthew Paris article in the Times.

Looking forward to the other MSM who have been such trans allies, printing articles like this.

And maybe one day the Guardian?

A spokeswoman from Stonewall defended their policies as being “based on guidance provided by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

So stonewall were both advising EHRC, which no doubt affected guidance, then said their policies were based on EHRC guidance? Isn't that a bit circular?

That's excellent news that EHRC are dropping the diversity champions thing.

@Defaultname

She says "And as the MoS reports today, the watchdog has now cut ties with Stonewall, ending its own Stonewall Diversity Champions membership. " but I can't find that report.

Weird isn't it? I've Googled using keywords, trawled the site, checked their twitter etc and can't see where they reported it.

Glad to see it confirmed by SM though!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4252103-EHRC-cuts-ties-with-Stonewall

Thanks for sharing, I have a Times sub but rarely read the Mail unless linked here going to enjoy this article with my breakfast!