Grant making charities getting together to exclude GC women off their boards

[Theeyeballsinthesky]

twitter.com/hjoycegender/status/1409769198193156098?s=21

I would say it’s unbelievable but it’s really not! I very much doubt you have to dig too far to see a relationship with stonewall

I work in the charity sector and already have to keep quiet because I’d be sacked for my GC ‘sex is a fact’ views or worse sent off for ‘re education’

The worst thing is, they genuinely think they’re the good guys

The Charity sector is a complete mess at the moment. It seems to have become a refuge for narcissists and authoritarians. It's the dark side of charity to seek to wield power over others

Sad, but I think you have a point.

These are my circles and it’s terrifying. What I find especially disturbing is that the people who work in these sectors tend to be well-educated and should be well-versed in how easy it is for a just opinion to be unpopular.

It used to be my circles more than it is now. There's a name I recognise from a national organisation who I thought was involved in the e&d debacle there basically saying "it's not a problem for me" without being able to think that other people may not have the same experience, I find it absolutely bizarre. I think have they ever actually spoken to anyone who has lived a different life? They seem to think they're so hot on EDI, but a lot of what they do is just laughable to people who actually live lives of disadvantage. I grew up with poverty and abuse, I was homeless for a bit, I was harassed at work for being a lesbian, experienced domestic violence myself - this is the "lived experience" that the national charities say they want, but in fact they don't in reality, it's just lots of jobs for people who grew up in nice, professional families. I have become very cynical I think.

This is one of the most alarming threads I've read for a while and together with what @SmokedDuck said on the Canada Bill thread, it's becoming harder to not get very paranoid and extremely perturbed by the forces at play.

I never thought I'd be the kind of person to believe "the baddies are out to get me" but it's starting to feel that way.

@Imnobody4

The Charity sector is a complete mess at the moment. It seems to have become a refuge for narcissists and authoritarians. It's the dark side of charity to seek to wield power over others.

It’s been like that for ages. In ye olden days it was seen as a stepping stone for a MBE/OBE...

I grew up with poverty and abuse, I was homeless for a bit… this is the "lived experience" that the national charities say they want, but in fact they don't in reality

Exactly! I grew up somewhere notorious (so much so that programmes have been made about the specific road on which I lived). Like so many, I have so much 'lived experience' of the unattractive, unwanted, unnecessary* sort - despite all the lipservice that lionises 'lived experience'.

*So unnecessary that I despair that the exact abuses and intersecting deprivations that I recall from decades ago are still happening today. Is that what happens when you refuse to listen to the people who lived through them?

It doesn't surprise me that someone should think that, am slightly amazed that they would make this a public tweet. Although obviously so much of this is just virtue signalling. And of course the assured complacency of being convinced you are inthe right.

But also looks like quite a few people think this just isn't acceptable if you look at the responses to the suggestion twitter.com/LauraMS70/status/1409568241069006851

So in a way it is good, but as we know from the women's sector that has been an active policy for some time.

And if women working in support services for women who have suffered male violence cant speak out, then who can.

But I think those she has attempted to include in her plans should be made aware what she has implicated them in. Sorry not on twitter.

it was seen as a stepping stone for a MBE/OBE

TBH I look through the lists now, and think, Why? You're just doing your frigging job. There are plenty of people who have worked much harder to overcome childhood trauma just to become an average human being who is nice to their friends and family and to break a cycle of distress and abuse. They need the bloody MBEs etc.

EmbarrassingAdmissions

@Coyoacan

The Charity sector is a complete mess at the moment. It seems to have become a refuge for narcissists and authoritarians. It's the dark side of charity to seek to wield power over others

Sad, but I think you have a point.

I'm reminded of some of those Victorian philanthropists who built hospitals or housing for their workers - Saltaire or Port Sunlight - which (if my memory is correct) offered greatly improved living conditions provided you toed the line and lived an upstanding Christian lifestyle.

@TabbyStar

it was seen as a stepping stone for a MBE/OBE

TBH I look through the lists now, and think, Why? You're just doing your frigging job. There are plenty of people who have worked much harder to overcome childhood trauma just to become an average human being who is nice to their friends and family and to break a cycle of distress and abuse. They need the bloody MBEs etc.

EmbarrassingAdmissions

I have known people are a few of the large charities - there are the people who roll up their sleeves and Wade ankle deep in mud and blood, and there are those who sit on committees, have tea with minor royals and await their gong. Later on I became aware of those in the comms dept who haven’t a chuffing clue and throw money around as if they were promoting Coca Cola - and waste a tonne of £££.

Does anyone have a link to the tweet where this is actually said? All I can see are comments like we need to talk about this.

Would like to share but link in OP is like arriving half way through a conversation!

Thanks

This one? It all seems a bit convoluted!

mobile.twitter.com/LauraMS70/status/1409559292508844036

@stumbledin

Does anyone have a link to the tweet where this is actually said? All I can see are comments like we need to talk about this.

Would like to share but link in OP is like arriving half way through a conversation!

Thanks

I archived some of it above - but it's impossible to capture all of the separate conversations within a thread (and this might need updating):

Archive of some parts of Laura Solomon's thread: archive.is/DHkdV

@stumbledin

Does anyone have a link to the tweet where this is actually said? All I can see are comments like we need to talk about this.

Would like to share but link in OP is like arriving half way through a conversation!

Thanks

It's because she keeps quote-tweeting herself. Seems to start here:

twitter.com/LauraMS70/status/1409501649509486592?s=20

Many thanks - but am wondering if the original tweet has been delighted. ie where she (or one of the two she is replying to @bharatmehta18 and @Hothi) says about not funding gender critical feminist organisations.

I have tried scrolling through their threads but cant see anything.

Will maybe try later on tonight as am in the middle of trying to catch up on work, but reading FWR takes up quite a lot of time - in a nice way.

I've worked for a grant making org. You have to leave your prejudices at the door (we all have them admit it) I had to look at each application for it's own merit and not think that I don't approve of the lifestyles of service users. To be honest I never had any trans orgs apply, but I can remember having a conversation with a colleague as to whether an org that helps large families (4 + kids) is truly deserving as that's a lifestyle choice whereas you don't choose for your child to be disabled ... actually the disabled family org got the money

This seems targeted at Sonia Sodha and her position on 'Trust for London', which is nasty, but Laura Solomons also seems very confused about Equality Law and the concept of conflicting rights.

@stumbledin

Many thanks - but am wondering if the original tweet has been delighted. ie where she (or one of the two she is replying to *@bharatmehta18 and @Hothi*) says about not funding gender critical feminist organisations.

I have tried scrolling through their threads but cant see anything.

Will maybe try later on tonight as am in the middle of trying to catch up on work, but reading FWR takes up quite a lot of time - in a nice way.

Solomon started to pick a public disagreement with Sonia Sadha (currently attempting to archive this):

twitter.com/LauraMS70/status/1409286055136837634

Everything else about trying to exclude GC voices from trustee boards seems to flow from there. And, one day, there will be an easier way to curate all this.

By sheer chance I have found it (or at least google is).

Seems CharitySoStraight started this and now it is their pinned tweet - worth reading their tweets going back a few days. twitter.com/CharityStraight

This seems to be the starts of Laura Solomons jumping on board twitter.com/LauraMS70/status/1409501649509486592

And seems that Sonia Sodha (Observer) has been challening her but now I really, really dont have time to continue looking.

But whoever knows about archiving might be worth capturing these.

twitter.com/edwardlord/status/1401581694696701956

Here is Edward Lord (mason, presents as white male, grammar school), using all his privilege to threaten Sonia Sodha a few weeks ago.

Well - I suppose we have to accept that one thing the Masons are known for are their private networks of influence, so who knows what has been said and agreed behind closed doors for the "CharitySoStraight" tweet to have been posted this week?

Archiving is as straightforward at putting a Twitter URL into a service like archive.is - you don't even need a Twitter Account to do it as long as the twitter account of the person in question is public and not locked.

archive.is/

It's just a mess because there are no tools that can capture the literally hundreds of comments that end up in different byways of a conversation that branches off the main thread.

@merrymouse

twitter.com/edwardlord/status/1401581694696701956

Here is Edward Lord (mason, presents as white male, grammar school), using all his privilege to threaten Sonia Sodha a few weeks ago.

What a shitbag. Pleased to see she wasn't taking it.

Sorry - all ‘their’ privilege.

Archive of Laura Solomon's original QT to Sonia Sodha:

archive.is/8Lp5D

mobile.twitter.com/LauraMS70/status/1409498481778204677