Stonewall
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Stonewall redefines trans to exclude crossdressers
Stonewall has expelled crossdressers from the trans umbrella Stonewall’s long-standing definition of “trans” changed on 27th June 2024 to drop “crossdresser” from the list. Before then, it said: “Trans people may describe themselves using one or more of a wide variety of terms, including (but not limited to) transgender,...
28th June 2024
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“Misgendering” and the Scottish Hate Crime Act
On 1st April, the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act came into force. The law has generated headlines across the world, mainly due to concerns about its potential impact on freedom of speech; in particular, gender-critical speech. One of the most controversial aspects is the extension of so-called...
5th April 2024
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Lobby groups tell schools to ignore DfE guidance
The Department for Education’s guidance on gender-questioning children was published in December – but many schools are getting materials from organisations they think are trustworthy telling them to ignore it. Below is a summary of what the larger organisations are sending out. Since “The Key” alone reaches more than...
31st January 2024
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Gender-critical civil society submits report to GREVIO on sex and the law
Sex Matters, Fair Play For Women and Transgender Trend, together with LGB Alliance, the Women’s Rights Network, For Women Scotland and Merched Cymru, have submitted a report on the UK’s implementation of the Istanbul Convention. The Istanbul Convention is about violence against women The “Istanbul Convention” is the Council of...
31st December 2023
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The NHS is accused of ‘trying to erase women’ as dozens of trusts sign up to Rainbow Badge scheme that marks down hospitals for using words like ‘mother’
Martin Beckford, policy editor for the Daily Mail
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Stonewall chair speaks (and then recants)
Iain Anderson, chair of trustees for Stonewall, has given an extended interview to Sky News’s Beth Rigby. It is well worth watching the whole thing. In the interview Anderson seemed to be trying to distance the organisation from the extreme position it has taken, saying that he recognises that...
22nd July 2023
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We call on GANHRI to protect civic space
On 3rd May 2023 Stonewall and a group of organisations wrote to the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) accusing Britain’s equalities watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, of being a “failed institution” which is “actively harming trans people”. This is the third time Stonewall has...
16th May 2023
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Bailey v Stonewall, Garden Court Chambers and others
2022 Employment Tribunal
2023 Costs hearing22nd July 2022
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Ofcom bows out of the Stonewall Champions scheme – but read the small print
Sex Matters has recently learnt that Ofcom is leaving the Stonewall Diversity Champions scheme because of concerns that remaining a member “could harm perceptions of Ofcom’s impartiality”. Ofcom, the communications regulator, has been a member of the Stonewall Diversity Champions programme since 2007, spending over £12,000 in 2019 and...
25th August 2021
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Understanding the risk of following Stonewall guidance – briefing for employers
The mismatches between current legislation and Stonewall’s guidance on ‘trans inclusion’ that employers need to be aware of.
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Beyond the rainbow: a view from inside the civil service
Sex Matters Anonymous: A gay civil servant speaks.
18th June 2021
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Oxford’s submission to Stonewall
We are pleased to announce that Michael Biggs, Associate Professor of Sociology at St Cross College, Oxford University, is joining the Sex Matters Board of Directors. Professor Biggs has written this post, as well as a letter to Professor Louise Richardson, Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford, calling...
6th June 2021
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Time to #LeaveStonewall
This is the letter we have sent to the CEOs of the 850 organisations that are members of the Stonewall Diversity Champions Scheme. Re: Leaving the Stonewall Diversity Champions Scheme We are writing to call on you to withdraw from the scheme, both for the sake of your own...
29th May 2021
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Response to mySociety
mySociety, the organisation that runs the “What Do They Know” freedom of information platform has written a post following complaints about our #dontsubmittoStonewall FOI project with Legal Feminist. Their post and our response is below. Dear mySociety #DontSubmitToStonewall FOIA campaign We are the two groups involved in this campaign:...
26th May 2021
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EHRC Chairwoman writes to Sex Matters: we have left Stonewall
This week we received welcome news in a letter from Baroness Kishwer Falkner. The Equality and Human Rights Commission is no longer part of the controversial Stonewall Diversity Champions Scheme. She said that the Commission seeks to ensure that all staff enjoy “acceptance without exception”. We responded welcoming this...
23rd May 2021
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Open Letter to the Equality and Human Rights Commission
A letter to Kishwer, Baroness Falkner of Margravine, Caroline Waters OBE, and the Commissioners of the Equality and Human Rights Commission
7th May 2021
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Watching the watchdogs
The job of the Women and Equalities Select Committee (WESC) is to hold Government to account on equality law and policy, particularly the Equality Act 2010. It also scrutinises the equalities watchdog, the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The Committee has received over 2,000 submissions in its current inquiry...
6th April 2021
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Stonewalling the Domestic Violence Bill: Why make “misogyny” gender neutral?
A short month ago there was an attempt to rush a bill through parliament that would set a precedent of “gender neutralising” motherhood in law; replacing the words mother or woman with “pregnant person” in the Ministerial and other Maternity Allowances (MOMA) Bill. As Baroness Noakes highlighted, this is...
13th March 2021
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Crispin Blunt MP ordered to apologise for breach of parliamentary rules over attempt to make secret deal on self-ID
The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner found that the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Global LGBT+ rights, which Blunt chairs, has not been adequately transparent. The main focus of the investigation was a position paper on gender self ID developed by the APPG, in consultation with transgender lobby groups. The...
7th March 2021
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Allison Bailey’s case against Stonewall will proceed
Allison Bailey is suing Stonewall Diversity Limited to stop them policing free speech. She is a barrister and helped to set up a new organisation for lesbian, gay and bisexual people, the LGB Alliance, to provide an alternative to Stonewall. In retaliation, Stonewall had her investigated by her chambers....
19th February 2021
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Stonewall schools guidance: a critical review
Transgender Trend reviews all ten Stonewall schools guides from 2015 to 2020.
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A vision for change – acceptance without exception for trans people 2017–2022
Produced by Stonewall’s Trans Advisory Group in February 2017.
