Get the violins out - Stonewall is "in crisis"

[IwantToRetire]

Our biggest LGBT charity is in crisis. Are we just going to let it collapse? LGBT people need armour; an organisation like Stonewall to act as a first line of defence

Stonewall, Britain’s largest LGBT organisation, is in crisis. It’s plummeting financially, with rounds of redundancies as funding cuts hit. And its credibility and influence is plunging amid a national and global backlash against LGBT rights.

This matters. If someone asked you to name the first LGBT organisation that comes to mind, I would bet my cat you’d say Stonewall. Since it was founded more than 35 years ago, the charity has become entwined in our country’s psyche, Parliament, schools, sporting and business sectors. But for how much longer?

However you feel about Stonewall, we need a conversation about the state of the biggest charity defending LGBT people. And we need to ask ourselves a question as the opponents of all kinds of human rights lie in wait: are we just going to let it die?
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To highlight one recent example of Stonewall’s seemingly waning influence, I asked the Government several times recently whether it has consulted with Stonewall over a proposed ban on conversion therapy since taking office. A spokesperson from the Cabinet Office declined to confirm whether it has even had any meetings with the charity about it, instead offering vaguely: “We will engage further with a broad range of stakeholders.” I asked Stonewall three times, but they did not provide a response.

Perhaps both sides are being coy or don’t want the public to know that they’ve met. But either way, this is as bizarre as it is concerning. Stonewall was once the charity that lobbied every MP in the country to help pass the same-sex marriage law in 2013. Now, it is unclear whether they’ve even had a meeting with the new Government over the psychological torture of LGBT people
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Should it die, many will dance on Stonewall’s grave. But then many would happily see the rights of LGBT people revoked too – thereby exposing how much a strong, influential organisation for this community is still needed.

If you think it should return to only representing lesbian, bisexual and gay people, then you’re ignoring not only the plight of trans people but also how intertwined all these rights are and how many government’s incarcerate people for laws that oppress every letter in the acronym – or pass laws like the Equality Act that protect everyone (until that is chipped away).
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Complete article at https://inews.co.uk/opinion/biggest-lgbt-charity-crisis-stonewall-3645337
Can also be read in full at https://archive.is/yGTYs

(If LGB people can set up their own Alliance, why cant trans people do the same?)

That’s a very good question. They’ve had a colossal income for many years. Where has it gone? Certainly not on benefitting lesbians and gay men, and its involvement with transactivism doesn’t seem to have been beneficial. This needs to be investigated.

If you're not good at your actual job then you won't be long in it. 'T was ever thus...charlatans always (always) get found out in the end.

They were so respected. Such a force for good. Shackling themselves to a men's rights movement for pervy old dudes ruined them from the inside out. It actually is a great shame - their founder (I forget his name, very funny man - Fanshawe?) he must weep.

Making it clear the rot set in after his exit. I don't blame him but would have been helpful if he spoke up before now. Will Baroness Hunt be held to account? She bloody should be

@Rubidium "The second letter is worth a read as well"

It's still not making the link between that decade of activism and the fact that we have a generation of 'trans-identified youth' at all, though.

I don't like that there's still a taboo around the idea that this entirely new phenomenon may not be natural and spontaneous, but has instead been mimetically spread by ceding to activists ground which should never have been ceded. There's a reason why "trans people have always existed" is part of the mantra – it might be worth giving that line a bit of attention at some point.

I wear a suffragette flag enamel pin because I am a woman, and it stands for women’s rights. GQ can magic up their own flag, Green White Violet is Give Women Votes, and nothing else.

Good news from the FA following the Supreme Court ruling. Well done to everyone FWS especially. From their statement.

The Supreme Court’s ruling on the 16 April means that we will be changing our policy. Transgender women will no longer be able to play in women’s football in England, and this policy will be implemented from 1 June 2025.

I used to work for Stonewall, but now it’s been captured by trans ideology
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/01/i-used-work-for-stonewall-but-now-captured-by-trans-ideolog/

Also at https://archive.is/57mtS

This seems to be annonymous or is it just not very clear?

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/02/stonewall-charity-status-threat-unless-respect-trans-ruling/

https://sex-matters.org/posts/publications/letter-to-stonewall-ceo-and-chair/

Excellent. They have flouted the law and given incorrect legal advice for years and taken millions in public money. No idea why this wasn’t done years ago

Oh that is a killer letter!

The Centre for Global Development had no idea what they were unleashing, did they, when they didn't renew Maya Forstater's contract. We have a lot to thank them for!

Stonewall’s response in the article:

We are highlighting that organisations don’t need to take any action yet, or change their policies

Why would you double-down on the advice you’ve literally just been told is incorrect?? They’re just repeating the incorrect legal advice again.

Unbelievable.

This is the archive link so that everyone can read the Telegraph article. https://archive.is/tFrpk

The Stonewall approach is part of what seems to be quite a wide ranging attack on the EHRC, despite their actual status and on Baroness Falkner.

The EHRC Interim Guidance clearly states that its effect is immediate.

this update is intended to highlight the main consequences of the judgment. Employers and other duty-bearers must follow the law and should take appropriate specialist legal advice where necessary.
https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/media-centre/interim-update-practical-implications-uk-supreme-court-judgment

Strange as it may sound I am quite glad that Stonewall is continuing to behave in their typical Stonewallian way.

It just illustrates that they are not an honest organisation, and unlike LGB Alliance they tried to get struck off as a charity, are themselves not a charity. They are a campaign group intent on undermining the rights of women and people who are same sex attracted.

And further illustrates that Sex Matters continues to approach its work in an honest and professional way.

Sadly I dont think Stonewall will give in, and all those who have conspired with them will try and make out that now Stonewall is just the hapless victime of a hate campaign.

More violins needed!

It is ironic because one of the complaints about the SC ruling is that no trans voices were heard, and Maugham said it’s because no trans organisations wanted to apply to be interveners because they didn’t want to be reported to the charity commission

I was thinking just the same
I think MF is the very definition of “mission driven”
fabulous!

It’s a bold move though isnt it?
The student regulator just fined Uni Of Sussex £585,000.
Even before the SC the EHRC were flexing in Scotland… Labour won’t stand in the way if they strike the SNP. I’m thinking it’s only a matter of time before NHS Fife are fined.
If there’s mass resistance then someone is getting a big fine - it’s just a question of who?

Well, as Stonewall say on their website "This does not constitute legal advice". You take Stonewall's advice at your own risk not theirs.

Well thankfully, whether Stonewall give in or not, it will all inevitably come to a head by Monday now anyway.

I’m glad the media picked this up and that there are going to be so many people and organisations watching this with interest over the weekend now. Mermaids and others who’ve taken the same stance of “well, it’s not the law yet” will also have to decide whether to back down or fight it out to the end, and companies who’ve been saying “but we don’t understand” will suddenly have the clarity they’ve been waiting for.

Like you, OP, I’m glad Stonewall were stupid enough to be so emphatically wrong, and so glad Sex Matters are on the case, as it will highlight the fact that the EA is already the law for anyone still in denial.

I'm wondering if it's really worth Sex Matters' time to pursue Stonewall. The public image given by Stonewall's statement is that everyone has left the building except the cat and the tea-lady who is now writing their legal advice.

(But as you rightly say, if Sex Matters take it up that does get the truth out there.)

Totally worth it. A strike to the head will create maximum damage. Other smaller charities won’t chance it. We will need examples like Uni of Sussex in all sectors to get this rot out and replaced with a proper balanced and equitable provision.

I find it really sad to see a marginalised group (women, who were never the minority) gang up against another marginalised group (lgbt whatever).

Sad. And yes, I know I'm going to be told I'm either wrong, delosuonaly, or my posting style is not to your taste. Go ahead, it's been said on this site before, nothing like being told to shut up by so called feminists.

and let's not forget spelling or autocorrect. Fill your boots.

Are women “ganging up” against lgbt or against men who demand access to their spaces, threaten them, assault them and wear offensive womanface?

I’m not sure where the ganging up comes into it.
It would make sense if there were any single sex spaces left in the entire country (apart from convents (?) and girls’ schools). Staff in the NHS were told that using the words “woman” and “uterus” in the same sentence would be a disciplinary offence at work. Nurses have been suspended and lost their jobs for not wanting to change in front of males. All councils, national governments, unions, charities, public services, the judiciary and the police subscribed to the gender identity ideology despite it being unlawful. Please do explain who was hanging up on who? Please provide examples - esp lesbians and trans men pregnancy rights