A TRANSGENDER rights organisation has lost its case to have the controversial LGB alliance stripped of its charitable status - in what is thought to be the first case of its kind in the UK.
The group, Mermaids, launched the appeal in June 2021 against a Charity Commision ruling in, arguing that LGB alliance "shouldn't be recognised as a charity because it was focused on hostile anti-trans activism and not (as it claimed) on the promotion of lesbian, gay and bisexual rights".
It is thought to be the first time in the UK that a charity has sought to have the charitable status of another removed.
A two-judge panel at the General Regulatory Chamber in London ruled in a brief online hearing on Thursday that the appeal was dismissed.
Judge Lynn Griffin said: “The appeal in this case is dismissed. We have dismissed this appeal because we have decided that the law does not permit Mermaids to challenge the decision made by the Charity Commission to register LGB Alliance as a charity.”
LGB Alliance described itself as a charity which promotes the rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual people “on the basis of sex rather than gender and believes that gender transition is largely driven by homophobia”.
The case was heard from September to November 2022 and the tribunal's verdict was given today.
We are delighted that the tribunal found in our favour and that Mermaids and the LGBT Consortium have failed in their bid to remove our charitable status. #LGBAllianceWin See our statement here:https://t.co/FCWxxdz1B3 pic.twitter.com/KNNRQe6MzB
— LGB Alliance (@AllianceLGB) July 6, 2023
LGB alliance celebrated their victory in the case on Twitter, saying: "We are delighted that the tribunal found in our favour and that Mermaids and the LGBT Consortium have failed in their bid to remove our charitable status."
Mermaids have released a statement on their website following the landmark ruling today.
The group argued the outcome of the case still puts a "huge question mark" over the charity's status as judges were "split" on the decision - one arguing in favour of Mermaids and one against.
During the hearings last year LGB Alliance co-founder Bev Jackson said the organisation shared the view of Harry Potter author JK Rowling that “without sex there is no same-sex attraction”.
Jackson said: “Anti-lesbian prejudice and fear is leading many teens, especially lesbians, to believe that they have ‘gender identity’ issues when they are in fact grappling with their emerging lesbian/gay sexual orientation.”
Dr Belinda Bell, chair of trustees at Mermaids, accused LGB Alliance of trying to “undermine” the work of charities such as Mermaids and Stonewall.
Bell’s statement at last year’s hearing read: “A central goal of LGB Alliance is seeking to undermine the work of a wide variety of organisations which it says have promoted trans rights to the detriment of women, children and LGB people.”
It added that LGB Alliance “has repeatedly stated in public forums that Mermaids seeks to inappropriately push LGB children into identifying as trans”, allegations it said are “false and harmful to Mermaids’ ongoing work”.
Separately, a Charity Commission inquiry into Mermaids – opened in December last year after new concerns were identified about the organisation’s governance and management – is ongoing.
