Stonewall facing ‘exodus’ from scheme as ministers lose faith

[PandorasMailbox]

From today's Times

"The Ministry of Justice is preparing to leave Stonewall’s diversity scheme leading to an “exodus” of government departments severing ties with the charity, sources suggest"

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bf1455cc-c6f1-11eb-b6f5-fed739e7c1ca?shareToken=9086531317b8e273ea11d2a00ce10dc1

I still can’t quite believe what is happening. All while Owen Jones rants on Twitter about how history will judge us harshly, as if he’s some all-knowing oracle.

If OJ would stop ranting, take a breath, listen and engage in a respectful dialogue then he might discover that there's a substantial Venn diagram in which we agree on the sanctity of human rights which is why we want to preserve them for women and not have them weakened or given away.

Agreed.

It’s like a huge blind spot he has.

Wonder how many of the gay men TRAs who are so invested in this fight weren’t old enough to campaign/march against things like section 28 and see this as their chance to be part of the revolution they missed out on.

‘I still can’t quite believe what is happening. All while Owen Jones rants on Twitter about how history will judge us harshly, as if he’s some all-knowing oracle.’

Yes! In his mind he is Kassandra predicting the fall of Troy.

Owen Jones is an irrelevance now.

He used to be OK, a fresh voice, but these last few years he's morphed into a hackneyed and tedious twitter bore while the debate on human rights has moved on beyond his intellectual and political reach.

In that sense, he's not that different from Laurence Fox.

He's currently blocking all and sundry who disagree with him instead of engaging with them. Most are making excellent points about Stonewall's anti-woman stance and its corporate protection racket.

He's yet another high-profile person who knows his bread's buttered on the wrong side but also realises it's way too late for him to back down.

from the article:

Fanshawe, 64, who won the Perrier comedy award at Edinburgh in 1989, said: “Instead of debating views, Stonewall tries to delegitimise the person who is speaking. There needs to be a debate about trans issues but if you question things like should trans women be allowed to compete in female sport then the charity labels you a transphobe.

“The point about being in an organisation is you take a group of disparate people and find a way of agreeing a common objective, not dividing them further.”

Thanks for the share OP

Stonewall changed from a charity to an ideological political / religious movement when the staff were 'trained' by Gendered intelligence in 2015, hired heterosexual misogynists, didn't consult LGB, refused to listen to dissent, rolled out GI law, said #nodebate, refused dialogue even with founders of Stonewall, stayed silent as gender non conforming kids were encouraged to believe they were born in the wrong body, said it was kind as pre-gay and pre-lesbian children were medicalised and all the while claiming to represent the single view of lesbian, gay and trans people, or the ‘community.’

There is also this opinion piece by Libby Purves:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/6032a216-c705-11eb-b6f5-fed739e7c1ca?shareToken=a132a2e1cacee6fabca6be415421b629

Good rss me Gendered Intelligence have grown so much they’ve become a charity (registered 2019) with an income in excess of £800,000

genderedintelligence.co.uk/about-us/the-team.html

"Gendered Intelligence is made up of a host of highly skilled freelance workers who are facilitators, practitioners, youth workers, mentors, writers, researchers, trainers, educators, artists and designers, cultural commentator, social media-ites and all round talented folk. The team at GI is growing and no doubt will grow more over the coming years"

I wouldn't bet your house on that....

I hadn't realiser Gendered Intelligence was instrumental in this.

Thanks for the links. Glad Libby Purvis is speaking out about the erasure of women's language. Is this her first venture in GC commentary? What's been stopping her using her considerable platform until now? Wasn't the JKR witch hunt enough for her, Maya's case, all the other sacrificial lambs?

Anyone know if James O'Brien has had his road to Damascus moment yet? He likes to be on the right side of history at all times. Can't stand OJ, but at least you know where you stand with that one.

@ScreamingMeMe

I hadn't realiser Gendered Intelligence was instrumental in this.

TRAs captured everything else, why not Stonewall too...

@SpindleWhorl

Owen Jones is an irrelevance now.

He used to be OK, a fresh voice, but these last few years he's morphed into a hackneyed and tedious twitter bore while the debate on human rights has moved on beyond his intellectual and political reach.

In that sense, he's not that different from Laurence Fox.

Spot on

Glad Libby Purvis is speaking out about the erasure of women's language. Is this her first venture in GC commentary? What's been stopping her using her considerable platform until now? Wasn't the JKR witch hunt enough for her, Maya's case, all the other sacrificial lambs?

I think it is the first time she's written about this. It's interesting, isn't it? I assume she wasn't brave enough to tackle JKR etc but now that lots of people are speaking out, she feels she can too.

Plus, it's really interesting, as with the Sarah Vine article, that the issue that seems to infuriate people more than any other is not rapists being put in women's prisons or men taking part in women's sport but the erasure of the words "mother" and "women". Words and their meanings seem to affect people in a particularly profound way.

Looking really hopeful for a complete exodus from Whitehall this week. I've got everything crossed, it will be huge if it happens.

Owen Jones = flip side of Laurence Fox
YES! They make a perfect whole. Great observation.

Glad Libby Purvis is speaking out about the erasure of women's language. Is this her first venture in GC commentary? What's been stopping her using her considerable platform until now? Wasn't the JKR witch hunt enough for her, Maya's case, all the other sacrificial lambs?

I do agree - and also over the scandalous treatment of Dame Jenni Murray.

HOWEVER - we need more people to speak out and therefore need give them the welcome when they do (however annoyingly belated).

In the annals of Great Feminism, JKR, MF and JM etc. have their places secured.

I like this line from the Libby Purves piece:
Yet now Stonewall, pivoting into power like the pigs in Animal Farm,
Thanks for the share, @Igneococcus

[quote Igneococcus]There is also this opinion piece by Libby Purves:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/6032a216-c705-11eb-b6f5-fed739e7c1ca?shareToken=a132a2e1cacee6fabca6be415421b629[/quote]
This is interesting as Libby Purves has historically been very much in favour of trans rights (in their old-style form); I well remember her very enthusiastic article when the GRA was passed, which influenced my own views, and one of her novels from a similar period has a very positive (and in retrospect slightly unconvincing) portrayal of a young trans character.

So, the fact that she now thinks that Enough is Enough is very telling.

Rat and sinking ships spring to mind.

I wonder how many other Stonewall adjacent people will suddenly decide to take a break from social media or go on a sabbatical from their jobs for the good of their health? I.E, they've been rumbled and realise the jig is up....

This could be a very interesting week.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there will be a change in management at Stonewall in the offing.

Plus, it's really interesting, as with the Sarah Vine article, that the issue that seems to infuriate people more than any other is not rapists being put in women's prisons or men taking part in women's sport but the erasure of the words "mother" and "women".

Perhaps because it's now aimed at them, so that makes it personal. Libby Purves and Sarah Vine are women and mothers themselves. They don't like their own identity and how they describe themselves to be dictated by the likes of Stonewall.

I have a feeling that Libby Purves has very tentatively raised the top of her head a centimetre above the parapet before - she's in my mental file of 'cautiously onside' but I can't for the life of me remember why, which isn't much use. I have a feeling it was to do with families/children/mental health (she lost her son to suicide) so could have been around the time of the increased Mermaids scrutiny?

It's truly a cause for celebration that the atmosphere has changed enough that moderate voices feel able to speak up now, thanks to the ovaries-of-steel courage of women like Janice Turner, Allison Bailey, Susanne Moore, Kathleen Stock, Jane Clare Jones, Maya Forstater, Sarah Phillimore, Sonia Sodha, and - of course - JKR, who risked everything and went through hell by speaking first.