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.

My Council isn't on the list but I've just googled 'Stonewall + 'Greendale* City Council' and it's a full-on hi ho silver award champion apparently!

*I am Mrs Goggins's evil twin

I always think of Lynda Snell when I hear Mrs Goggins.

I think Lynda would give SW a good kicking.

Looks like Holland & Barrett are out too:

*Thanks for getting in touch.

We currently do not work with any of the organisations you have outlined.

If you did want to find information of who we do work with, information should be available via our Corporate Website.
Thanks,

Mark
H&B Team*

i'd also asked them if they have anything to do with Mermaids or Gendered Intelligence as well which they dont

Just thought I'd add a link to the sex matters list. A couple of organisations who have been mentioned here as no longer in the scheme haven't been crossed off yet.

sex-matters.org/stonewall-champions-list/

That list is thoroughly depressing. I wonder if government and local government departments will ever leave.

CIPD apparently haven't been members since 2019, yet they were still on Stonewalls list of members...
twitter.com/CIPD/status/1407253938915745798?s=19

[quote ItsAllGoingToBeFine]CIPD apparently haven't been members since 2019, yet they were still on Stonewalls list of members...
twitter.com/CIPD/status/1407253938915745798?s=19[/quote]
Surely the fact that many organisations are not members yet are still listed is something that needs looking into?

The BFI are still paid up members:

*The BFI are enrolled as Stonewall Diversity Champion. In the last two years the BFI has not received any feedback outside the confirmation of their membership and standardised membership correspondence.

The BFI continues to be Stonewall Diversity Champions however they have not recently enrolled in any Stonewall Scheme and pay their membership on an annual basis that the BFI review.*

Royal Opera House still members and have also worked with Gendered Intelligence:

"The ROH is a Stonewall Diversity Champion, but has its own positioning and approach to strengthening LGBTQ+ equality within the organisation.

Diversity partners like Stonewall offer useful perspectives on key issues, and contribute to the formation of our own approach, considered alongside a number of other perspectives including that of our Staff Diversity and Inclusion Network. We have done work with a number of other groups, including some targeted work with Gendered Intelligence in 2019 to help inform this approach. There has been no collaboration with Mermaids to date.

We do not submit such policies for approval to external parties, including with diversity partners such as Stonewall and we review our commitment to the Diversity Champion programme on an annual basis.

We will continue to build on progress already made this year, and recently-published the executive summary of our equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, which is now embedded across the organisation to ensure that we are continually improving, making the ROH a safe and welcoming place for everyone."

Manchester International Festival sees no problem with Stonewall either:

"Thanks for your email.

As an organisation we are committed to building equality into everything we do and continue to work to ensure we are open and accessible to people from all communities, backgrounds and identities. We value all LGBTQI+ people as employees, colleagues, artists and audiences.

The work we have done with Stonewall has been part of our wider Equality work which aims to address inequalities and barriers for all protected characteristics.

We have no plans to make any changes regarding Stonewall at the current time."

Barnados are not SW champions;

"Thank you for getting in touch and for your support, which is greatly appreciated and makes a big difference to vulnerable children and families across the UK.

At Barnardo’s we believe in all children – regardless of who they are or what they've been through. Last year we supported over 358,000 children, young people, parents and carers, through more than 800 services and partnerships.

We are not currently members of any of Stonewall’s schemes, though we liaise with a range of external organisations in our work with children, young people and families."

Sorry for DM link:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9732239/Now-business-department-begins-review-Stonewalls-dubious-diversity-training-scheme.html

Same story from The Times:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/business-department-reviews-links-stonewall-diversity-scheme-wwnc6jxx3

Birmingham Council have replied to my FOI request:

"I would like to know whether you are still a Stonewall Champion and if so what
information, advice, training have you had from them and does it involve
schools.
At the date of this response, the council is not a Stonewall member. However,
the council is in the process of renewing its membership so that it can assess
itself against the Stonewall Equality Index. The council has no immediate plans
to procure or seek advice or training from Stonewall for its staff or schools. The
motives for Stonewall membership is centred on good governance,
benchmarking across the sector and equality best practice.

As Liz Truss has requested that government departments cease working with
them due to their practices I would like to know whether you plan to follow her
advice.
The council is not working with Stonewall per se, merely adopting their
‘Workplace equality index’ to assess our measures to improve equality of
opportunity and outcome for staff and benchmark our performance across the
sector.
I would also like to know whether you have any connections to Mermaids or
Gendered Intelligence and again whether this involves children or schools.
N/A"

[quote Leafstamp]Sorry for DM link:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9732239/Now-business-department-begins-review-Stonewalls-dubious-diversity-training-scheme.html[/quote]
good to see msm aren't dropping this story

The DM article includes Stonewall’s usual response which I have seen several times:

“All our guidance on the Equality Act is based on the Equality and Human Rights Commission's Equality Act Code of Practice, which was recently reaffirmed in the High Court.”

Presumably this isn’t correct?

Great work Tesla. It's good that BCC are note paying money to Stonewall, but potentially worrying if they are still adopting some of their methods.

I might post this elsewhere, but here is a frightening account of the way things can go:

sex-matters.org/posts/updates/view-from-private-sector/

[quote Leafstamp]Great work Tesla. It's good that BCC are note paying money to Stonewall, but potentially worrying if they are still adopting some of their methods.

I might post this elsewhere, but here is a frightening account of the way things can go:

sex-matters.org/posts/updates/view-from-private-sector/[/quote]
I agree it is worrying that they are still technically getting their advice from SW

@Hazycoffeek

The DM article includes Stonewall’s usual response which I have seen several times:

“All our guidance on the Equality Act is based on the Equality and Human Rights Commission's Equality Act Code of Practice, which was recently reaffirmed in the High Court.”

Presumably this isn’t correct?

I would say it is not correct, and that other organisations have pointed out why, as per The Reindorf report: twitter.com/legalfeminist/status/1394624805647831042

In the education sector, see also commentary from organisations like:

safeschoolsallianceuk.net/2021/06/19/schools-pay-for-misinformation-from-stonewall-the-telegraph/

www.transgendertrend.com/stonewall-school-champion/

@Tesla73

The BFI are still paid up members:

*The BFI are enrolled as Stonewall Diversity Champion. In the last two years the BFI has not received any feedback outside the confirmation of their membership and standardised membership correspondence.

The BFI continues to be Stonewall Diversity Champions however they have not recently enrolled in any Stonewall Scheme and pay their membership on an annual basis that the BFI review.*

'Bfiben' from the BFI dismissed women's safety concerns about mixed sex toilets as 'pseudo concerns' a year ago. Maya Forstater and others took him up on it and the tweet was deleted, but I think it reveals their mindset. Given the way the South Bank is in effect used like an area of London parkland with all that that implies, and most of the South Bank's foyer spaces and toilet areas are open to just anyone who wants to breeze in, to be so utterly dismissive of safety concerns is astonishing.

[quote Manderleyagain]Just thought I'd add a link to the sex matters list. A couple of organisations who have been mentioned here as no longer in the scheme haven't been crossed off yet.

sex-matters.org/stonewall-champions-list/[/quote]
That’s still a depressingly long list. They are coining it in aren’t they?

BFI was a big disappointment to me - the south bank was my second home when I was a student and to my 20s. It felt safe and welcoming.

Museum Of London reply from someone with their pronouns in their email signature - bless. Not only SW champion but also recently worked with GI

"Thank you for your email enquiry, which was forwarded to me.

We take part in Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index and are a current Diversity Champion. We often engage with external partners on these issues, including recently working with Gendered Intelligence on an awareness piece.

We take all feedback on board and appreciate you taking the time to write."

“All our guidance on the Equality Act is based on the Equality and Human Rights Commission's Equality Act Code of Practice, which was recently reaffirmed in the High Court.” disingenuous, if this was the Ann Sinnott case?

and......Stonewall has been feeding responses to its SW champions because the similarity in replies is striking

If stonewall guidance was based on ehrc guidance, why is stonewall guidance necessary at all?!* Why isn't everyone just using the free ehrc guidance?

*rhetorical. Stonewall is still trading on its previous good reputation and employers like mine want the logo on their footer