UK Green Party backs away from LGBT charity and lobbying group
In a significant blow to Stonewall’s influence, the Green Party of England and Wales (“GPEX”) has instructed its disaffiliation from the LGBT charity and lobbying group’s Diversity Champions programme.
Multiple motions for GPEX, or the Green Party, to disaffiliate from Stonewall have been put forward in the past. For example, a motion was made at the Autumn Conference in 2023 and previous conferences in 2022. But now, after multiple motions not being passed, the Greens have quietly disaffiliated themselves.
Stonewall, an LGBT charity and lobbying group, runs two related programmes that employers can join to demonstrate their commitment to LGBT equality, the Workplace Equality Index and the Diversity Champions schemes. “It’s not completely clear from Stonewall’s website how the two programmes interact,” Legal Feminist wrote in 2021. But “every single one of the top 100 employers on the Workplace Equality Index is also a Diversity Champion.”
It must be remembered that in Great Britain, positive discrimination in the workplace is unlawful. Positive discrimination refers to when an employer implements positive action to assist people with a protected characteristic but in doing so unfairly disadvantages other groups.
Submitting to Stonewall is capable of leading to a whole world of pain for organisations of any kind, in any sector. The process will absorb endless hours of management time. It is not only time-consuming and tedious; but also … considerably humiliating. It costs money. It will make you look silly, gullible and cowardly.
If you are a public body, it will distort your policies and decision-making in ways that will expose you to judicial review, and embarrassing and expensive climb-downs of the kind already performed by Oxfordshire County Council, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Office for National Statistics.
But worst of all, depending on the nature of your functions, it may cause you to infringe liberties, mis-state the law, commit or condone criminal offences, and put children and vulnerable adults at risk of serious harm.
Submission And Compliance: Risks for Stonewall Champions, Legal Feminist, 1 February 2021
Related: NHS DEI programme is hugely costly and disruptive
Yesterday, The Spectator reported the Green Party has issued an instruction to disaffiliate from Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme,[1] marking a significant blow to the charity’s influence, as even the most extreme trans activists now seem to be distancing themselves from the organisation.
Related: Tracking how the Green Party has become the party of the transgender movement, The Green Light, 4 September 2024
The decision was made at the Green Party’s annual conference, with reasons cited as “lack of value for money, risk of Green party policy bias and overall consideration of reputational risk,” as announced by the former deputy leader of the Green Party, Shahrar Ali, who recently won a legal case against the Party for dismissing him as a spokesperson due to allegations of transphobia.
No major UK government department is currently signed up to Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme, which has seen a significant drop in income due to the mass exodus of government departments and other organisations.
The programme, which sells training and guidance on how to be an “inclusive employer,” has been accused of exerting undue influence over government departments, charities and large employers, and has been used to push employers towards adopting policies that allow trans-identified men to access women-only spaces.
The BBC, Channel 4, Ofsted and the Equality and Human Rights Commission have all parted company with Stonewall, citing reasons such as “value for money” and accusations of misinterpreting the Equality Act in its guidance.
Stonewall has been quietly watering down its definition of transphobia, which now applies only to someone who has “prejudice or negative attitudes” towards trans people, rather than anyone denying or refusing to accept someone’s gender identity.
Former Stonewall CEO Ruth Hunt has been criticised for her role in adding the “T” to the LGB and for her claims about the benefits of puberty blockers for children, which she has since expressed regret over.
The damage done by Stonewall to lesbians, gay men and children has been immeasurable, and there must be accountability for its actions during its dreadful reign.
Note: [1] Since The Spectator’s article was published at 11:34 on 3 February 2025, Stonewall’s webpage for its Diversity Champions programme has been taken down, see HERE. You can find an archived copy of it HERE.
