As high-profile organisations cut ties with the influential LGBT charity, criticism is mounting against its pervasive gender ideologies, reports the Telegraph. Here’s an extract:
From a commercial viewpoint, the creation of its Diversity Champions programme was a genius move for Stonewall.
It was initially a roaring success, with in excess of 900 organisations – from government departments and huge corporate names to NHS bodies and local councils – clamouring to be members.
At its height in 2019, the programme – whose purported aim is to make workplaces more LGBT inclusive – brought in millions of pounds in income for the charity. Membership fees were around £3,000 per year.
However, with a growing number of those who once trumpeted their membership deciding to leave, it appears that the wheels may be coming off Stonewall’s flagship initiative.
The latest high profile dropout is the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCP).
Its chief executive, Sonia Walter, and its president, Dr Lade Smith, wrote to the college’s members to tell them that it will not be renewing its Diversity Champions membership when it expires in December.
The letter states: “Stonewall helped us to become a more inclusive organisation. However, we are acutely aware that there is a risk in being affiliated with an organisation that may speak on matters relating to the professional practice of our members, but over which the college has no direct control.”
The RCP’s explanation for exiting the programme goes to the very heart of why its popularity has nosedived. In recent years, the charity has engaged in an increasingly divisive crusade to push a disputed ideology that promoted “gender identity” over biological sex.
In turns, the Diversity Champions scheme became one of the most visible vehicles for this pivot towards trans activism – a fact that was reflected in the guidance given to member organisations.
Such advice included promoting the adoption of gender-neutral language. Encouragement to replace the word “mother” in workplace policies with the term “parent who has given birth” is one particularly controversial example.
This pressure on employers to embrace gender ideology has – in the eyes of some critics – turned its once well-intentioned diversity scheme into little more than a mob shakedown that organisations sign up for to avoid accusations of transphobia.
The establishment of Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme can be traced as far back as 2001.
There was also the linked “Workplace Equality Index”, in which employers are ranked from one to 100 for their “progress on LGBT equality”.
the influence Stonewall was able to exert on public and private institutions across Britain through the programme was staggering.
Many diversity programme members began making fundamental changes to their workplace practices with very little staff consultation.
One of the most obvious areas was in the overhaul of language. A significant number of NHS trusts have removed the word “woman” from their websites and information materials to avoid offending transgender people.
Other examples include both the General Medical Council and the Scottish Civil Service taking references to “mother” out of their maternity policies.
In 2020, the BBC asked its staff to start using pronouns in their email signatures to make transgender and non-binary colleagues feel more welcome.
Stonewall has also pushed organisations to introduce gender-neutral toilets and changing rooms, while claiming that members had a legal obligation to allow employees to use the facility that aligned with their gender identity rather than sex.
In line with this advice, companies, civil service departments, the NHS, arts bodies, financial institutions and many more, introduced policies which stated that people could use the loos, changing areas or even hospital wards that corresponded with their affirmed gender.
This was despite legal experts repeatedly pointing out that there were in fact exemptions under the Equality Act, which meant it was lawful for organisations to provide single-sex facilities.
Worth reading in full.
