A Week in the War on Women: Monday 31st May - Sunday 6th June GOOD NEWS SUPPLEMENT

The Stonewall Exodus continues

The Times @thetimes

Liz Truss, the equalities minister, is pushing for all government departments to withdraw from Stonewall’s employment scheme following a row over transgender rights

thetimes.co.ukLiz Truss urges official withdrawal from Stonewall diversity schemeLiz Truss, the equalities minister, is pushing for all government departments to withdraw from Stonewall’s employment scheme following a row over transgender rights.Truss, also the international trade

Following the news that Liz Truss is urging government departments to withdraw from Stonewall’s ‘diversity champions’ scheme, there have been many reports about the organisations and public bodies who are jumping ship.

1. Channel Four has quit the scheme.

The Times @thetimes

Channel 4 has withdrawn from Stonewall's “diversity champions” scheme following criticism of the charity by Liz Truss The broadcaster would not confirm why it had pulled out of the programme

thetimes.co.ukChannel 4 quits Stonewall scheme amid legal advice scandalChannel 4 has become the latest organisation to pull out of the diversity scheme run by the charity Stonewall.The broadcaster, which has been praised for its programmes highlighting LGBTQ issues, said

2. The Ministry of Justice is preparing to leave the programme, with officials stating that Stonewall has ‘lost its way’. Other government departments are intending to follow suit.

3. Ofsted and other public bodies, including the Post Office, NHS Highland, Swim England, three police forces and several councils, have also walked.

   TransgenderTrend @Transgendertrd

   We are pleased that Ofsted are no longer members of the Stonewall Diversity Champions scheme. "Ofsted is among a growing number of major employers, including the equalities watchdog, who have quit the programme in recent months." archive.is/jfNxS

4. Moon Beever, a law firm based in Gray's Inn, has relinquished its membership, "After some disquiet about recent actions of Stonewall”.

RollOnFriday @RollOnFridayWeb

EXCLUSIVE Law firm quits Stonewall over its 'disquieting recent actions' rollonfriday.com/news-content/e…

What The Papers Say

In addition to haemorrhaging members, Stonewall has come in for some severe criticism in the press this week.

1. The Times reported on Allison Bailey’s legal action against Stonewall over allegations it tried to silence her.

Joanna Cherry QC @joannaccherry

With my legal hat on I predict more & more women, particularly lesbians, who have faced silencing & intimidation will bring challenges against organisations that have signed up to an “inaccurate & unlawful view of equality legislation”

thetimes.co.ukStonewall fails to stop lesbian suing in trans rowStonewall, the gay rights charity, has failed to stop a lesbian lawyer from suing it over allegations that it tried to silence her opposition to its policy on transgender rights.The campaign group

2. And on the mounting pressure on law firms, chambers and the Law Society to sever their ties with Stonewall.

Times Law @TimesLaw

From today's law pages in @thetimes -- @stonewalluk takes heat in the next stage of the gender identification debate thetimes.co.uk/article/critic… And get The Brief -- analysis straight to your in-box every Thursday.

thetimes.co.ukCritics call for law firms to quit StonewallPressure is mounting on law firms, barristers’ chambers and leaders of the Law Society to withdraw from schemes run by the charity Stonewall amid concern over its stance on transgender rights.Allison

3. The Daily Mail published an article by one of Stonewall’s original founders, Simon Fanshawe, on how the charity tried to ‘cancel’ him.

Simon Fanshawe @SimonFanshawe

Just wrote this about Stonewall and thought you might like to see it

dailymail.co.ukStonewalled... by the leaders of gay rights group I helped launchFree to Be? Only if you agree with Stonewall. In reality it has become single-mindedly focused on a particular and by no means universally accepted ap...

4. The Spectator reported on Stonewall’s ‘dystopian attacks on gendered language’.

   The Spectator @spectator

   ‘Apparently, words like “mum” and “dad” are too “gendered” and thus they might offend trans people. This isn’t about equality. It’s not about diversity, either. It’s social re-engineering.’ ✍️ Brendan O’Neill on Stonewall

   

   spectator.co.ukStonewall’s dystopian attacks on gendered language | The SpectatorToday brings yet more proof that Liz Truss is dead right to want to withdraw government departments from Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme. The Telegraph reports that one way institutions and companies can rise up Stonewall’s ‘Workplace Equality Index’ is by ditching words like ‘mother’ and …

5. The Telegraph reported on Stonewall’s involvement in the ‘woke training industry’ that is a ‘corporate racket’.

   The Telegraph @Telegraph

   "Recent weeks have seen a few small victories in a crucial fight: to stop unqualified busybodies telling people how to think and behave" | Writes @DouglasKMurray

   

   telegraph.co.ukFrom Stonewall to the Lords, the woke training industry is a corporate racketThat such schemes can run all the way through the House of Lords speaks volumes about who runs this country, even under a Tory Government

6. The Observer published an article on Stonewall setting back LGBT equality by ‘misrepresenting equalities law to the detriment of women’.

   Sonia Sodha @soniasodha

   The fight for equality is won through building solidarity & winning hearts & minds. Stonewall is setting it back by misrepresenting equalities law to the detriment of women & likening gender-critical feminists to anti-Semites. I hope it reconsiders.

   

   theguardian.comStonewall risks all it has fought for in accusing those who disagree with it of hate speech | Sonia SodhaThe charity has forgotten that true power lies in solidarity and compromise

The Start of A Sea Change On Campus

THE ECONOMIST: A backlash against gender ideology is starting in universities.

The Economist @TheEconomist

A new report marks a challenge to the transgender ideology that has become the norm on American campuses and in universities around the English-speaking world

econ.stA backlash against gender ideology is starting in universitiesAcademics are speaking up against the stifling of debate | International

Akua Reindorf’s report for Essex University has seen academics start to speak out against the gender identity ideology which has become the norm on campus.

Has The Good Law Project Been Bad?

THE DAILY MAIL: Jolyon Maugham QC’s Good Law Project is facing questions about its crowdfunding activities.

Sarah Phillimore @SVPhillimore

Fox-clubbing QC Jolyon Maugham faces questions on crowdfunding cases mol.im/a/9655369 via @MailOnline

mol.imFox-clubbing QC Jolyon Maugham faces questions on crowdfunding casesJolyon Maugham (pictured) is the most high-profile exponent of UK crowdfunding to fund a series of highly political cases through his Good Law Project.

A Big Week For LGB Alliance

Twitter gave the LGB Alliance an authenticating ‘blue tick’.

The charity also gained five new trustees; TV executive, Eileen Gallagher OBE, Conrad Roeber, a strategy consultant who was the primary author of IPSO’s report on trans issues in UK press; Kathleen Stock OBE, author and academic, Robert Wintemute, Professor of Human Rights Law at King’s College London, and Lord Young of Norwood Green, a Labour Party life peer.

LGB Alliance @ALLIANCELGB

LGB Alliance is happy to announce that we have recruited five new trustees drawn from broadcasting, academia, Parliament and business. #ProgressiveLGBPolicies lesbianandgaynews.com/2021/06/lgb-al…

That’s three weeks of good news! Vive la résistance!