LGB Alliance

LGB Alliance
FormationSeptember 2019; 5 years ago (2019-09)
FoundersBev Jackson
Kate Harris
Ann Sinnott
Allison Bailey
Malcolm Clark
Founded atUnited Kingdom
TypeAdvocacy organisation, registered charity
Registration no.limited company: 12338881 registered charity: 1194148 (England and Wales)
Legal statusActive
Websitelgballiance.org.uk Edit this at Wikidata

The LGB Alliance is a British advocacy group and registered charity founded in 2019 in opposition to the policies of LGBT rights charity Stonewall on transgender issues.[1] Its founders are Bev Jackson, Kate Harris, Allison Bailey, Malcolm Clark and Ann Sinnott. The LGB Alliance describes its objective as "asserting the right of lesbians, bisexuals and gay men to define themselves as same-sex attracted", and states that such a right is threatened by "attempts to introduce confusion between biological sex and the notion of gender".[1] The group has opposed a ban on conversion therapy that includes trans people in the UK,[2] opposed the use of puberty blockers for children,[3] and opposed gender recognition reform.[4]

The LGB Alliance has been described by the Labour Campaign for Trans Rights as transphobic, in a statement signed by a number of Labour MPs, and by articles in four scholarly journals as "trans-exclusionary" or "anti-trans".[5][6][7][8] Hope not Hate and the Trades Union Congress have described the group as anti-trans.[9][10] It has also been described by several members of parliament, journalists, and LGBT organisations and activists as a hate group.[11][12][13][14] Conversely, the group has received support from a number of UK politicians, including Boris Johnson (Conservative),[15] Rosie Duffield (Labour),[16] Sarah Ludford (Liberal Democrat)[17] and Joanna Cherry (SNP).[16]

The LGB Alliance was granted charitable status by the Charity Commission for England and Wales in April 2021, which was controversial with LGBT groups in the UK, fifty of whom signed an open letter condemning it.[18] A hearing for an appeal against its charitable status started in the First-tier Tribunal in September 2022.[19][20] The appeal was dismissed in July 2023. It found that Mermaids, which had made the appeal, did not have legal standing to challenge the decision by the Charity Commission.[21][22][23] The judges also said they had been unable to reach agreement on whether LGB Alliance qualified for charitable status and therefore had not ruled on that matter.[24]

  1. ^ a b Hurst, Greg (24 October 2019). "Transgender dispute splits Stonewall". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 16 March 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  2. ^ "Religious group warns against LGBT+ conversion therapy ban". BBC News. 16 March 2021. Archived from the original on 7 November 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  3. ^ Gentleman, Amelia (14 September 2022). "'Lie of gender identity' spurred founding of LGB Alliance, court told". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 20 January 2023. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference pinknews was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Guyan, Kevin (4 January 2021). "Constructing a queer population? Asking about sexual orientation in Scotland's 2022 census" (PDF). Journal of Gender Studies: 1–11. doi:10.1080/09589236.2020.1866513. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 March 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2023. LGB Alliance (2019) (a UK trans-exclusionary LGB organization) argued the NRS proposal 'would suggest that other sexual orientations exist beyond attraction to the opposite sex, same sex or both sexes' (p. 2) and requested that the census not include the term 'Other sexual orientation' as a response option
  6. ^ Turnbull-Dugarte, Stuart J.; McMillan, Fraser (3 November 2022). ""Protect the women!" Trans-exclusionary feminist issue framing and support for transgender rights" (PDF). Policy Studies Journal. 51 (3): 629–666. doi:10.1111/psj.12484. ISSN 0190-292X. The case of the LGB Alliance charity is of note. The trans-exclusionary position of the organization engendered significant debate among the LGBT+ community in Scotland.
  7. ^ Monque, Pedro (3 February 2021). "On Decolonizing Social Ontology and the Feminist Canon for Transnational Feminisms: Comments on Serene J. Khader's Decolonizing Universalism". Metaphilosophy: meta.12468. doi:10.1111/meta.12468. S2CID 234040622. some trans‐exclusionary LGB movements have begun to form around TERF ideology (for example, the LGB Alliance in the United Kingdom and the Red LGB movement in Spain).
  8. ^ McLean, Craig (2 November 2021). "The Growth of the Anti-Transgender Movement in the United Kingdom. The Silent Radicalization of the British Electorate". International Journal of Sociology. 51 (6): 473–482. doi:10.1080/00207659.2021.1939946. ISSN 0020-7659.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Transphobia and The Far Right". Hope not Hate. 16 March 2022. Archived from the original on 16 November 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022. LGB Alliance is an anti-trans campaign group...
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference iwgb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Lewis, Isobel (30 September 2021). "Matt Lucas calls LGB Alliance 'anti-trans': 'It doesn't represent me or any gay people I care to know'". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 3 November 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  13. ^ Maidment, Adam (30 August 2021). "Man 'evicted' from Manchester Pride protest after crowds turn on him over 'hateful' shirt". Manchester Evening News. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  14. ^ Maurice, Emma Powys (14 October 2021). "Russell T Davies takes down LGB Alliance in incendiary speech: 'To cut out the T is to kill'". PinkNews. London. Archived from the original on 15 October 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference TheNationalConf was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Milton, Josh (13 July 2022). "Liberal Democrats shut down LGB Alliance's party conference claim". PinkNews. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  18. ^ "Charity Commission confirms registration of the LGB Alliance". GOV.UK (Press release). The Charity Commission. 20 April 2021. Archived from the original on 3 January 2023. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  19. ^ "Appeal "LGB Alliance's" charity status". CrowdJustice. 7 April 2022. Archived from the original on 1 January 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  20. ^ Weakley, Kirsty (12 April 2022). "London Community Foundation 'suspends' grant to LGB Alliance". Civil Society. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  21. ^ Fox, Aine (6 July 2023). "Transgender group loses challenge over gay rights charity's status". The Irish News. Belfast. Archived from the original on 7 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  22. ^ Burns Lees, Aaron (6 July 2023). "Mermaids loses case to strip LGB alliance of charity status". The National. Glasgow. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  23. ^ "Charity Commission responds to Mermaids/LGB Alliance tribunal verdict". GOV.UK (Press release). The Charity Commission. 6 July 2023. Archived from the original on 6 July 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gdn6723 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).