A UK tribunal has rejected calls for a gay charity to be stripped of charitable status following a complaint that because the group only supports gay, lesbian, and bisexual people, amid accusations that its activities were inherently “transphobic.”
The LGB Alliance was registered with the UK Charities Commission in 2021 and states that it represents men and women with same-sex attraction but rejects gender ideology and does not claim to represent transgender people.
On Thursday, July 6th, the group announced victory in a 2-year battle brought by the transgender activist group Mermaids, which attempted to have LGB Alliance stripped of its charity status, arguing the LGB Alliance was created to “destroy” the reputation of the group, which was formed in 1995, and to siphon off funding.
Kate Barker, Chief Executive Officer of LGB Alliance, reacted to the tribunal dismissing the case saying:
We are absolutely delighted with this judgment and with the news that we will retain our charitable status. Two years ago, we were clear that Mermaids had no standing to challenge our registration and today the tribunal has confirmed that we were correct. Whilst this is a battle we did not seek, neither would we flee from it. But the cost to us and to our supporters has been huge. Our legal fees amount to more than £250K and that money has come from small supporter donations. So, whilst our win is great news for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals, we can’t help but reflect on the fact that a sum like that would have been better spent on projects such as our Helpline for young people, our LGB Archive and our Friends’ Network. This case did, however, provide a welcome opportunity to talk about our work in a public forum and we hope that the era of ‘no debate’ is over.
According to the group, the tribunal invoked free speech and free expression as the reason for throwing out the case saying, “The fundamental rationale of the democratic process upon which our society is founded is that when competing views, opinions and policies are publicly debated and exposed to public scrutiny, the good will over time drive out the bad and the true will prevail over the false.”
Mermaids, meanwhile, reacted to the judgement saying, “While we are disappointed by the finding that we did not have standing to bring the appeal, Mermaids is proud to have been able to speak up authentically for the trans community in court, and to have demonstrated that the LGBT+ sector is united in its trans-inclusive approach, which we believe to be a victory in itself.”
Last year, Kate Harris told a court that transgenderism and its advocates were attempting to “erase” lesbians by claiming that women can have penises.
“I’m going to speak for millions of lesbians around the world who are lesbians because we love other women … We will not be erased and we will not have any man with a penis tell us he’s a lesbian because he feels he is,” she said and added, “A lesbian is attracted to another biological woman, full stop.”
The case comes after growing differences between homosexuals and transgender persons in several countries such as France where lesbians have claimed to have been sexually harassed and abused by male-to-female transgender activists.
A letter signed by eleven women and published by the French magazine Marianne in 2021 stated, “Now we are meeting young people who believe in the existence of people with a functional uterus and testicles after reading militant brochures.”
The women also claimed that transgender male-to-female activists accused lesbians of “transphobia” for not being sexually attracted to them.
