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?)

What a scandal. We should be doing more than shutting them down.

Absolutely this.

Public sector organisations are in dire financial straits. I really hope they have the sense to save themselves some cash by stopping being a ' Stonewall Diversity Champion'. They've been paying a fortune to an organisation that was utterly incompetent in its supposed area of expertise, and which has completely unnecessarily created this entire situation we are now in, and they are now in, when they could have just taken up the offer that was made to them a decade ago, to have a grown up, sensible debate about the rights of trans identified people and how they can be accommodate in society, alongside the rights of other groups of people.

But they refused. All this is on them and their bedfellows.

Nae sympathy.

Yeah, but look how long it took the Charity Commission to investigate all the shit going on in plain sight at Mermaids.

They can be sued by any of us under s111(5)(b) of the EA 2010 for instructing other organisations to discriminate against us (for being GC, lesbians, women, etc), a la Allison Bailey’s case against them.

Even if Bailey’s case fails on the particular facts of her case, it doesn’t mean other people won’t be successful, as the provision exists (albeit untested) in the law.

Organistion that has been grossly mismanaged, recommended sex discrimination and has silenced many - for a fee - often to public sector organisations.

is upset because they are being challenged and have been held to account, just like any badly run organisation should.

Right, gotcha.

I've just donated AND I sent an email to LGBA so they know where the donations are coming from and why.

I hope this is OK with everyone, obviously not everyone on here is going to want to support/donate to LGBA but a good few have expressed support for them.

Here's the email I sent:
Hi I've just made a donation of £25 to you via PayPal.
I'm emailing you to let you know that I made the donation at the suggestion of a poster on the Feminism: Sex and gender discussions discussion board on Mumsnet.
We were discussing the situation at Stonewall and several posters commented that the LGB Alliance were doing the work that we used to admire Stonewall for doing, and somebody suggested backing that up with donations.

So if you see an uptick in donations, it's not random, it's an expression of support from this corner of Mumsnet

Thank you for your important work,
regards,

Just to add, the reason that in Stonewall’s case it would be instruction as opposed to mere advice is because of the duress placed on organisations via the Stonewall workplace index and the Champions scheme - it’s basically “do as we say, or we’ll downgrade and you’ll suffer severe reputational damage”.

Once the companies had signed up, they were stuck following Stonewall’s every instruction or risk looking non-inclusive for refusing Stonewall’s demands.

It’s not a charity.

It’s a marketing & training business.

making money by blackmail.

Yes. Couldn’t agree more. Makes my blood boil to think how far they misled many young vulnerable children not to mention their interference in public tax funded institutions.

I wonder if they might be sued?

Ah, what was that about the right side of history again?

I just saw your post and have signed up to a direct debit.

It was a woman, and a lesbian woman who did it. For money and a Damehood.

I've just done the same, minus the email.

LGBA have done sterling work against this insanity and I applaud them.

Justice is always for the rich, unfortunately. Or rather, legal representation. Even at a personal level, if someone takes you to court even for vexatious reasons, it can take a lot of cash for legal advice to extricate yourself.

But I wouldn't feel sad for the trans cause - there are plenty of rich folk behind the scenes who could have chosen to bankroll the other side. Where's David Tennant and his wallet?

Ultimately the outcome can't be bought. Sure, you can pay for a top legal team but as long as the judge has all the relevant info, they will make a decision based on that, not how polished your barrister was.

I've just sent them £100.

After seeing posts here on all the great work that Sex Matters does I set up a monthly donation.

I have just sent a donation to lGB alliance - a thank you for all the work they do. Sadly, we still need great champions for LGB rights - I am happy to be an ally to this great cause (I would never support the misogynistic and sometime anti gay corporate and political manipulators Stonewall have become). Well done LGB Alliance for fighting for what’s right.

Great idea. I've also donated and sent a similar email using your wording

Too right. But past and present Governments should also be held to account. How did Stonewall come to yield so much power and be given free rein no matter how much batshit they demanded? Organisations and public bodies quietly began to remove links to Stonewall over the last few years so they knew this was coming but still they were given public funding. One of the worst and largest organisations has been the NHS. I can't imagine costs that have been incurred by the NHS in prioritising such nonsense and the costs that will now come in reversing these policies.

The sad thing is, their work wasn't done. They could have campaigned for the rights of gay people in other countries, against regressive regimes, ensured the safety of gay people going abroad, highlighted the rolling back of gay rights in parts of Europe, campaigned against the shedloads of sports cash and publicity going to homophobic regimes in the ME. Instead they decided to shit on women.

Here’s an idea: LGB people need a better alliance than Stonewall.

🎻LGB Alliance exists and there are a multitude of trans charities that can step in to replace Stonewall's all-about-the-trans advocacy, they just have to get behind one as their leader.

Here’s mine

Here’s hoping! I wonder if we will start to see mention of Stonewall disappearing from corporate noticeboards and websites as companies seek to distance themselves now they are being shown up as the wolf in sheep’s clothing - maybe LGBA will be getting some corporate funding come their way if companies want accurate advice about how to be inclusive.

The way stonewall and their flying monkeys have managed to convince so many people that 2 year old children know they are trans and TWAW is really sinister. One of my DC is highly intelligent and autistic. Straight A* student all the way through school. Utterly convinced by this nonsense. After a brief period of identifying as bisexual, DC is in a heterosexual relationship for now and seems happy. (I wouldn't care if DC was Gay or Bi either, but the trans ideology scares me - it causes so much damage).

I wonder if this information is available under a freedom of information request? If so, and was based on Stonewall advice, what’s the chance of recouping some of those costs?