Stonewall (charity)

Stonewall

File:Stonewall logo.svg Stonewall logo
Formation	20 May 1989 (1989-05-20)
Type	NGO
Legal status	Charity
Purpose	LGBT rights
Headquarters	London/Edinburgh/Cardiff
Region served	United Kingdom
Chief Executive	Ben Summerskill
Budget	£3.6m
Staff	56
Website	www.stonewall.org.uk

Stonewall is an LGBT rights charity in the United Kingdom named after the Stonewall Inn of Stonewall riots fame. Now the largest gay equality organization not only in the UK but in Europe, it was formed in 1989 by political activists and others lobbying against section 28 of the Local Government Act. Its founders include Sir Ian McKellen, Lisa Power (MBE), Matthew Parris and Michael Cashman.

Although Stonewall is a lobbying organisation rather than membership organisation, it has diversified into policy development for the rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people after Labour came to power in 1997. It remains a lobbying organisation rather than a membership organisation. Chief Executive Ben Summerskill has commented that Stonewall "has never pretended to be a democratic member organisation. We have never said we speak for all lesbian, gay and bisexual people."

Stonewall GB is based in London. Stonewall Scotland has offices in Edinburgh and also includes work on transgender within its remit. Stonewall Cymru is in Cardiff and north Wales.

Accomplishments

Stonewall at London Pride 2011.

Stonewall's most high profile achievements have been in parliamentary lobbying. Under Director Angela Mason, it saw amendments to the 2002 Adoption and Children Bill which treated lesbian and gay couples in the same way as heterosexuals, and Mason was awarded an OBE "for services to homosexual rights". Under its current Chief Executive Ben Summerskill it was in successful parliamentary campaigns to:

• repeal Section 28 of the Local Government Act (2003),
• recognise anti-gay hate crimes, through the Criminal Justice Act 2003,
• introduce the Civil Partnership Act 2004 giving gay and lesbian couples a legal framework equivalent to civil marriage,
• introduce the 2007 Sexual Orientation Regulations, protections against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation in the provision of goods and services secured through the Equality Act 2006.
• equalise treatment of lesbian parents and their children in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008
• introduce an offence of incitement to homophobic hatred in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, matching existing protections around race and religion.

Earlier high profile work was backing legal test cases in the European Court of Human Rights. These included:

• Teenager Chris Morris, who successfully challenged the unequal age of consent laws.
• Duncan Lustig-Prean, Jeanette Smith, Graham Grady, John Beckett who successfully challenged the ban on homosexual people in the armed forces.
• Lisa Grant, who (unsuccessfully) sued her employer, South West Trains, for equal pay and benefits.

Stonewall 'outs' the armed forces

See also: Sexual orientation and military service § United Kingdom, and British Army § Equality and Diversity

One of Stonewall’s first and longest campaigns was to lift the ban on lesbians and gay men serving in the armed forces, a campaign finally won in 1999. It began when Robert Ely, who had served in the British Army for seventeen years, approached Stonewall. The discovery of a letter had led to his sexual orientation being disclosed and he was subjected to an investigation and thrown out of the army.

In 1998, Stonewall was approached by Jeanette Smith, who had been thrown out of the Royal Air Force, and Duncan Lustig Prean, a Royal Navy commander who was being dismissed. They asked Stonewall to arrange legal representation, leading to a long battle through the courts with Graham Grady and John Beckett also joining the case. At that time there was no Human Rights Act. Although the judges in the High Court and Court of Appeal said that they felt the ban was not justified they could not overturn it and Stonewall had to take the case to Strasbourg and the European Court of Human Rights before winning it. The judgment of the Court was a vindication of the rights of lesbians and gay men and the Labour government of the time immediately announced that they would lift the ban. This took place on 12 January 2000, and a new general code of sexual conduct was introduced.

In February 2005, the Royal Navy joined Stonewall's Diversity Champions programme, followed in November 2006 by the Royal Air Force and by the British Army, the largest of the three services, in June 2008, to promote good working conditions for all existing and potential employees and to ensure equal treatment for those who are lesbian, gay and bisexual.

At London Pride 2008, all three armed services marched in uniform for the first time. All three services openly recruit at gay pride events, recognise civil partnerships as equal to marriage and enjoy support for homosexual personnel at the very highest levels.

The British Army requires all soldiers to undergo Equality and Diversity training as part of their Military Annual Training Tests and stress tolerance, specifically citing homosexual examples in training videos, in line with the British Army Core Values and Standards, including 'Respect for Others' and 'Appropriate Behaviour'. It considers its core values and standards as central to being a professional soldier.

In 2009, the tenth anniversary of the change of law that permitted homosexuality in the armed forces, it was generally accepted by all that the lifting of the ban had no perceivable impact on the operational effectiveness on a military that still considers itself world class. The anniversary was widely celebrated, including in the Army's in-house publication Soldier Magazine, with a series of articles including the July 2009 cover story and articles in many national newspapers. Soldiers and Officers have given public support to Stonewall's campaign against school bullying, "It Gets Better...".

Proud2Serve is a support group that provides advice and support to serving and prospective members of the British Armed Forces. Stonewall continues to work with all three services in their role as diversity champions.

Current work

Stonewall's work now focuses on working with organisations to bring equality to gay, lesbian and bisexual people at home, at school and at work. Stonewall’s Diversity Champions good practice programme for major employers has risen from 100 members to over 550. Organisations now engaged in the programme, between them employing over four million people, range from Deloitte and American Express in the private sector to the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, British Army and MI5 in the public sector.

In 2005 Stonewall launched an Education for All programme, supported by a coalition of over 70 organisations, to tackle homophobia in schools Stonewall's education work also includes the slogan 'Some people are gay. Get over it!' which has been seen on billboards, tube carriages and buses across Britain

Stonewall has also produced research reports in areas such as homophobic hate crime, lesbian health and homophobia in football.

Events

Stonewall holds a number of high profile events including the Stonewall Awards, the Stonewall Equality Dinner and the Brighton Equality Walk.

Controversies

Peter Tatchell of OutRage! has accused Stonewall of endorsing discrimination by holding champagne receptions for celebrities and politicians supported by HSBC, despite the company being sued by Peter Lewis in 2005 for unfair dismissal on grounds of sexual orientation. Although Lewis lost this case, he expressed gratitude to Stonewall for its support. Stonewall supporters note Peter Tatchell's own high-ticket fundraising activities in, for example, July 2007.

In October 2008, the Stonewall "Journalist of the Year" award nominee Julie Bindel was described as transphobic by some trans rights groups, for her supportive writing about lesbian issues. This led a protest at the awards event at which protest organisers claimed 150 activists. A much smaller counter protest in support of Bindel by the London Feminist Network comprised less than a dozen protesters. Comedian Amy Lame, nominee for Entertainer of the Year, considered the protest "insulting to Stonewall, to be honest. I think Stonewall has achieved so much for so many people – gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender – all of those people have been included in laws they helped to change." Bindel has apologised over the tone of her Guardian article entitled "Gender Benders Beware", but stands by her view that people should question the basis of the diagnosis of male psychiatrists, "at a time when gender polarisation and homophobia work hand-in-hand".

Stonewall came under criticism in September 2010 by some LGBT activists including Michael Cashman, Christine Burns and Sir Ian McKellen for declining to declare its position on gay marriage equality before it had consulted its supporters. Stonewall has since changed its remit and now supports equal marriage for lesbian and gay people.

See also

• LGBT rights in the United Kingdom
• List of LGBT rights organisations
• Sexual orientation and military service

External links

• Stonewall official site
• Stonewall Cymru
• Stonewall Scotland