Mermaids vs LGB Alliance and Charity Commissioner - First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) Thread 3

[nauticant]

The Tribunal started on 9 September, witness testimony started on 12 September.

To obtain access to view the proceedings, send a request email to [email protected] about case CA/2021/0013 - Mermaids vs Charity Commissioner and LGB Alliance and ask for permission to join. You then have to provide certain information and agree to a judge's direction in order to be able to join.

There is also live tweeting from twitter.com/tribunaltweets.

Abbreviations:

J or judge: Presiding Judge, Judge Lynn Griffin
AJ or Judge: Assisted by Judge Joe Neville
MG: Mermaids counsel is Michael Gibbon KC
KM: LGB Alliance counsel is Karon Monaghan KC
AR: Karon is assisted by Akua Reindorf
IS: Charity Commission counsel is Iain Steele

(Also the witnesses, PR: Paul Roberts, JN: John Nicolson. BB: Belinda Bell, BJ: Beverley Jackson, KH: Kate Harris, and EG: Eileen Gallagher.)

Thread 1: mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4629679-mermaids-versus-lgb-alliance-in-court-today
Thread 2: mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4632780-mermaids-vs-lgb-alliance-and-charity-commissioner-first-tier-tribunal-general-regulatory-chameber-thread-2
Thread 3: ongoing

Witnesses for the applicant (Mermaids):

Paul Roberts - CEO of LGBT Consortium (12 September)
John Nicolson MP - Deputy Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global LGBT+ Rights (13 September)
Dr Belinda Bell - Chair of trustees of Mermaids (13 September)

Witnesses for the respondent (LGB Alliance):

Beverley Jackson - Co-founder and trustee of LGB Alliance (13-14 September)
Kate Harris - Co-founder and trustee of LGB Alliance (14-15 September)
Eileen Gallagher OBE - Chair of trustees of LGB Alliance (15 September)

Witness Statements:

Paul Roberts: lgballiance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Paul-Roberts-Witness-Statement-Exhibits.pdf
John Nicolson MP - lgballiance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/John-Nicolson-Witness-Statement-Exhibits.pdf
Dr Belinda Bell: lgballiance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Belinda-Bell-Witness-Statement-Exhibits.pdf
Beverley Jackson: lgballiance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Bev-Jackson-Witness-Statement-Exhibits-1.pdf
Kate Harris: lgballiance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Kate-Harris-Witness-Statement-Exhibits.pdf
Eileen Gallagher (two statements): lgballiance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Eileen-Gallagher-Witness-Statement-Exhibits.pdf lgballiance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Eileen-Gallagher-Second-Witness-Statement-Exhibits.pdf

Submissions:

lgballiance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Volume-4-Submissions-CA.2021.0013.pdf

(Header format follows the gold standard established by @ickky)

post updated by MNHQ at OP's request

I've yet to hear one. But I would like to know how in the first place Mermaids managed to garner such power that they are able to question another (unconnected) organization's charitable status.

Is this something anyone can do, should they only have the time, finances, inclination and sheer tenacity to pursue it?

Who's behind the funding of these people? Why are they delivering 'training' consisting of unproven content, particularly in schools? Why have high-profile organizations suddenly started quietly dropping their name, and why have they been allowed to peddle demonstrable untruths, such as puberty blockers are completely unproblematic and the process can be 'paused' at any time, and get away with it?

Would there be scope for challenging their own charitable status on such a basis?

PS. Thanks for the threads, which I've been watching since the beginning. I'm not able to follow proceedings word-for-word, but really appreciate others who are doing so and reporting back here.

Thanks from me too.

It has perplexed me from the beginning of my involvement with <gestures broadly> all this over the last nine years (can’t believe I’ve been at this so long!) that the people to whom Mermaids are nominally providing support don’t demand better

between the data breaches, the cavalier approaches to research, the deeply distressing videos of key figures chortling over their childrens genitalia, the vilifying of detransitioners and the lassez-faire approach to ensuring that the care and protection of vulnerable children is at the very core of what they do, to the slap on the wrist of the Cass report, which apparently hasn’t penetrated at all, their record is spotty at best. And now this? A completely pointless legal slap fight that at best comes off as misguided, and at worst, a quixotic religious crusade against gay men, lesbians and bisexuals for ideological apostasy.

Why don’t Mermaids supporters want better than this? They did not always function like this, they used to be much more moderate, and reasonable. But in the early 2010s, that changed. And it’s children who are bearing the brunt of this lack of focus on core competencies.

Why don’t Mermaids supporters want better than this?

They're thinking like consumers. The whole core of demands is "give us what we want, faster".

Coupled with a belief that "giving us what we want" (or "giving our children what they want" in Mermaids' case) is the route to happiness.

That's not a healthcare model. It's shopping. (Yet the NHS is expected to be the provider, somehow).

If you want to see how mad things have got, check out the breastfeeding thread on RoF.

The poster called Chimp is, allegedly, a doctor.

Exactly.

They've decided that the issue needs a certain solution, and that's the end of it.

Everything that happens is geared towards that. That's why the cass report, the single most important report on children who identify as trans, is irrelevant to them. To the point where most cant even be arsed to read it.

What's RoF?

Oh really? So you could, in theory, have the likes of Karon Monaghan and Akua Reindorf representing Mermaids if they had been approached first.

www.rollonfriday.com/discussion/induced-lactation-breastfeeding-male-bodied-person-identifying-woman

A forum for lawyers, @TheKeatingFive.

Seems that I am not right! I would cry too if I was lumped with this case 😭

Oh thanks 😀

That Warren person seems completely cuckoo.

Thank you for asking!

ive already asked a question

Didnt feel I could do it again 😀

Thanks again for these threads OP and everyone who is contributing, I'm just catching up with them now.

Just a reminder if anyone wants to support the LGBA while they defend this nonsense, their crowdfunder is still quite a bit short of the target.

RoF is rollonfriday as linked above

Also a reminder that you can nominate them on your Amazon page if you use Amazon. They don't donate much but every little helps and it shows support.

It's not hard to find links between Liberty and Mermaids.

(Used to post loads and loads here but have had quite a break. Good to be back.)

Maybe Mr Gibbon lost a bet . . . ?

Sorry wrong thread!

I'm reading this now!

It's crackers!

Plus - I'm sure that I read somewhere that "male" milk, artificially induced as it is, has entirely different constituents to breast milk.

i love how robust everyone is allowed to be on RoF

'Nobody starts life with breasts, Warren, you tool'

it would certainly add a little piquancy if we were able to speak to our visitors in those terms

I've just checked and I've generated £1.70. Not much but as you say, shows support. It would be interesting to know how many people have nominated LGB Alliance for their Amazon Smile.

@IamTuesday 😂

Warren is completely omitting the impact of puberty and sex hormone.

But, could you send Warren to a thread where they believe the term breastfeeding is transphobic and we should be using chest feeding. At least has a grasp of the fact that all humans have breast tissue.

Yes, it was refreshing to see!