We heard about Allison Bailey last autumn. She's a founding member of the LGB Alliance, which broke away from Stonewall in protest against what they perceived as its - Stonewall's - obsession with trans rights and gender identity.
Bev Jackson, a co-founder of the Gay Liberation Front, said: “LGB people like us have been writing to Stonewall for over a year – trying to set up a dialogue with them. It’s about the fact that they have chosen to prioritise trans people and have almost abandoned their original mission: protecting people who are same-sex attracted.
“Sadly, we do still need protection. Young lesbians in particular are suffering; experiencing huge social pressure to transition to male if they do not conform to traditional gender stereotypes.
“Almost 10,000 people have signed our petition – asking for calm, respectful discussion. Stonewall has stonewalled us every time. So it’s time to set up an alternative organisation.”
The new group said that it was formed following a refusal by Stonewall, which was originally set up to fight legal discrimination against gay men and lesbians, to respond to a petition asking it to acknowledge the range of valid viewpoints around sex, gender and transgender politics.
As a result Stonewall and its trans allies have been busy branding the LGB Alliance as a transphobic hate group - and, as far as Allison Bailey's concerned, with considerable success. In October we heard that she was under investigation by Garden Court Chambers, where she works as a barrister:
Bailey was subjected to a torrent of abuse and death threats after she posted on social media: “Gender extremism is about to meet its match.”
The LGB Alliance has said its mission is “asserting the right of lesbians, bisexuals and gay men to define themselves as same-sex attracted”. Its stance that “gender is a social construct” faced immediate opposition from trans groups.
Garden Court said on Twitter that it was “investigating concerns” raised about the comments in line with Bar Standards Board policies. “We take these concerns v seriously & will take appropriate action.”
Bailey said her chambers had “simply gone along with what the hate mob want” and were “offering me no support whatsoever”.
She pointed out that Garden Court, which handles many transgender cases, had signed up as a Stonewall “diversity champion”.
The story continues. Jo Bartosch in Spiked today:
Allison argues that lesbian, gay and bisexual people should be ‘free to organise and campaign around sexual orientation and not trans rights without apology or permission from Stonewall or anyone else’. Her employers clearly disagree: four lever-arch files of data requested by Allison revealed that Stonewall and Garden Court Chambers had colluded in ‘eliciting complaints… from third-party organisations’, in effect building a case against her.
Righting wrongs takes cash, and so on Friday 26 June Allison turned to the popular crowdfunding platform, CrowdJustice, in order to raise the money to pursue a claim at the employment tribunal. Within a day she had raised £60,000 – clearly a testament to how many ordinary people are fed up with being dictated to by the likes of Stonewall. But with predictable alacrity, as soon as her fundraising campaign was launched CrowdJustice began to receive complaints from trans activists. The fundraising page was then unpublished.
Over the weekend, the page was republished with a statement from CrowdJustice’s chief executive, Julia Salasky, stating: ‘We allowed Ms Bailey’s CrowdJustice case page to launch before ensuring its content in its entirety met the high standards that our community expects of us… We have had complaints about some of the content of Allison Bailey’s case page and because of the serious nature of the complaints we followed our policy to take the page down while it was reviewed in detail against our terms.’ The page remains live, though it is closed to further donations....
Identity top trumps can be pretty odious, but it seems relevant to note that Allison Bailey is a black lesbian from a working-class background who is simply fighting for the right not to be discriminated against for her beliefs. To have the weight of the woke, and overwhelmingly white, middle-class establishment come crashing down on her for stepping out of line reveals the power and influence of the transgender lobby....
Whoever you are you cross the transgender lobby, it seems, at your peril.