Organisations Leaving Stonewall: The List

[Barracker]

Thought it would be handy to keep a running list here of organisations who have done 'budget reviews' or similar and have subsequently decided that Stonewall are 'not value for money'.

EHRC
ACAS
House of Commons
DVLA
Dorset Police
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Do feel free to update the thread as more join the exodus.

Comic Relief. OK. Founded to help with the famine in Ethiopia in 1985...

The charity states that its aim is to "bring about positive and lasting change in the lives of poor and disadvantaged people, which we believe requires investing in work that addresses people's immediate needs as well as tackling the root causes of poverty and injustice".

So what has that remit to do with Stonewall? I hadn't noticed them doing much for "poor and disadvantaged" people.

So what has that remit to do with Stonewall? I hadn't noticed them doing much for "poor and disadvantaged" people.

I dunno...just a hunch that a certain TV Doctor is feeling quite "poor and disadvantaged" right now

The University of Bedfordshire is liable to have an Acting Interim Data Protection Officer soon...

I'm surprised that they'd flat out lie on an FOI response! And then the Uni press team responding to the tweets

@InspiralCoalescenceRingdown

The University of Bedfordshire is liable to have an Acting Interim Data Protection Officer soon...

I'm surprised that they'd flat out lie on an FOI response! And then the Uni press team responding to the tweets

Are you saying Bedfordshire is in the SW scheme? (I'm assuming that they don't mean Brunel which is in the news for their responses on Twitter.)

Uni of Beds has made a right hash of their response to a FOI request:

mobile.twitter.com/karenovirus19/status/1400754125135089668

[quote Leafstamp]Uni of Beds has made a right hash of their response to a FOI request:

mobile.twitter.com/karenovirus19/status/1400754125135089668[/quote]
Thank you. I did wonder.

For anyone who wants to avoid Twitter:

Someone sent a DontSubmitToStonewall FOI request to the University of Bedfordshire, who didn't respond.

Eventually the requester sent a request for an internal review, the next step before complaining to the ICO.

The University's Interim Data Protection Officer then send a belated response to the original FOI request saying that the University has no dealings with Stonewall. Except in the letterhead at the bottom was the Stonewall Diversity Champions logo.

This was posted into Twitter. The Uni Press Team Twitter posted saying the letterhead was out of date, that the current one didn't say Stonewall, but that they were looking forward to getting it back on the letterhead!

So the Uni lied about not having dealings with Stonewall, gave the game away through using the wrong letterhead, then gave the game away again on Twitter!

@InspiralCoalescenceRingdown

For anyone who wants to avoid Twitter:

Someone sent a DontSubmitToStonewall FOI request to the University of Bedfordshire, who didn't respond.

Eventually the requester sent a request for an internal review, the next step before complaining to the ICO.

The University's Interim Data Protection Officer then send a belated response to the original FOI request saying that the University has no dealings with Stonewall. Except in the letterhead at the bottom was the Stonewall Diversity Champions logo.

This was posted into Twitter. The Uni Press Team Twitter posted saying the letterhead was out of date, that the current one didn't say Stonewall, but that they were looking forward to getting it back on the letterhead!

So the Uni lied about not having dealings with Stonewall, gave the game away through using the wrong letterhead, then gave the game away again on Twitter!

Thank you for being less lazy than me!

The uni had also recently tweeted about a meeting with Stonewall! So someone somewhere is lying.

Hopefully it will be reported to ICO. (Though they are also SW members ).

There's no need to conflate Stonewall with all the various good and positive work done to advance the cause of LGB (and T) people. I ran a Comic Relief funded project that was about improving the experience of people using mental health services. Comic Relief funding is split into lots of different work streams to meet various objectives and I was able to include an LBGT and mental health strand to that and am proud of what we did.

There's still a lot of prejudice in the UK. The local LGBT group were refused permission to march in the annual town parade a few years ago due to it being a 'family event'. And no, they weren't wanting to march in gimp costumes. Just a handful of every day people and their allies who live in a very rural area that is still deeply ignorant.

Channel 4 leaving, says the Times:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/5c9c9888-c565-11eb-8601-6a2ece3e4634?shareToken=52ed490929ba36f44b0578eee607c7e5

I love the Uni of Bedfordshire response so much 🤣

Totally Python-esque.

Looks like Ofsted have left...

<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210604232141/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/04/stonewall-raised-concerns-ofsted-inspectors-dont-always-discuss/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web.archive.org/web/20210604232141/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/06/04/stonewall-raised-concerns-ofsted-inspectors-dont-always-discuss/

What about OfRuth? Are they away yet?

I'm not on Twitter but would love to see #WhereIsRuthHunt trending.

What great news to wake up to, OFSTED leaving is huge!

IRONY KLAXON

"The email raised “specific concern” that teachers may not "make pupils aware of the existence of all protected characteristics” in the 2010 Equality Act by the time they leave primary school."

This could be useful?

^A spokesperson said: "Primary schools that are meeting the DfE’s statutory requirements for teaching RSHE, including on the protected characteristics, but are not explicitly teaching about gender reassignment, can still be judged outstanding.

"As set out in our guidance, if a school requests that inspectors do not speak to pupils about a topic that the school reasonably believes is sensitive for its pupils, inspectors will not ask pupils questions about it."^

OFSTED leaving is the perfect opportunity for us to all write to our children’s schools and ask them to confirm whether or not they participate/intend to participate in the Stonewall School Champions scheme and if they do when they plan to quit!

[quote Leafstamp]Uni of Beds has made a right hash of their response to a FOI request:

mobile.twitter.com/karenovirus19/status/1400754125135089668[/quote]

You...you can't lie on an FOI.

'Meanwhile, more public bodies have quit Stonewall’s diversity scheme. They include the Post Office, NHS Highland, Swim England, three police forces and several councils.'

WHOOOOP!!!!

Brilliant news about Ofsted!

This is important as, through social media eg fb groups, school leaders share the kinds of things ofsted inspectors are looking at and asking qs about in inspections.

They then look at making sure staff know what to say and how to say it and it's embedded in school life.

@CaveMum

OFSTED leaving is the perfect opportunity for us to all write to our children’s schools and ask them to confirm whether or not they participate/intend to participate in the Stonewall School Champions scheme and if they do when they plan to quit!

In some cases it may be a council wide, school trust/ academy trust or even nhs funded scheme though. Worth checking if the school has the choice to leave

Now Channel 4!

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/5c9c9888-c565-11eb-8601-6a2ece3e4634?shareToken=7ba7305404b560740fb10de6cf81c0e7

@MidClrgs

Now Channel 4!

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/5c9c9888-c565-11eb-8601-6a2ece3e4634?shareToken=7ba7305404b560740fb10de6cf81c0e7

Sorry - saw it was covered below

That’s a good point @WarriorN, perhaps that can be part of the question for the schools.

My daughter’s primary school have a Stonewall logo with text saying they did something in 2017 but no mention of anything more recent, so I will quiz the head of pastoral care (who I’ve had a few other conversations with ) next week.

I listed Uni of Bedfordshire in this list (above) because they claimed to have left as per the Twitter kerfuffle. It's interesting as to whether organisations self-reports should be distrusted and the information validated in other ways (hardly the intention of an FOIA). tbh, as I was going through them, it very much felt as if some organisations were responding in a very unclear way.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4257620-Organisations-Leaving-Stonewall-The-List?msgid=107857876