Stonewall changes “transphobia” definition
Sometime in January Stonewall updated its list of LGBTQ terms, removing several terms that never caught on, including “gender-variant”, “genderless”, “nongender”, “third gender”, “bigender”, “neutrois” and “ace” (“crossdressers” were dropped last June).
It also made a quiet change to its definition of “transphobia”.
The previous longstanding definition said that denying a transgender person’s gender identity or refusing to accept it was an expression of fear, dislike and transphobia. As Professor Kathleen Stock told a House of Lords committee in 2020, this formulation captured anyone who simply expressed ordinary beliefs about the two sexes:
“Since I and other academics, as well as thousands of members of the general public, reject the importance of gender identity for determining womanhood or manhood, my views are counted as ‘transphobic’ and so hateful, only possibly borne of ‘fear or dislike’.”
This definition, which played such a big part in allowing workplace witchhunts, has now gone.
| OLD | NEW |
| Transphobia The fear or dislike of someone based on the fact they are trans, including denying their gender identity or refusing to accept it. Transphobia may be targeted at people who are, or who are perceived to be, trans. | Transphobia Prejudice or negative attitude, beliefs or views about trans people. This can include the fear or dislike of someone based on the fact they are, or are perceived to be trans. |
With 25% of the UK workforce working for employers who are or have been members of Stonewall’s schemes, the old “transphobia” definition was influential. It embedded gender-identity ideology in HR policies and enabled bullying on an industrial scale. Hundreds of people have been investigated on bogus accusations of “transphobia” and thousands more have been cowed into silence. Quietly revising the definition won’t even begin to undo the harm that has been done. Organisations need to be told about the revision. Policies, practices and training need reviewing.
Sex Matters has written to Stonewall’s CEO to applaud him for taking the brave step of discarding the previous extreme and divisive definition, and calling on him to make sure that the thousands of employers, universities and schools that were influenced by the previous definition hear about Stonewall’s long-overdue change of heart.
Read our letter to Simon Blake:
Organisations that adopted the old Stonewall definition included:
- Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
- Girlguiding
- South Tyneside NHS Hospital
- Women’s Institute
- University of Aberdeen
- University of Bath
- BMET College
- Brunel University
- Edinburgh University
- Essex NHS Partnership University
- Exeter University
- University of Huddersfield
- Imperial College London
- Leeds Beckett University
- London Business School
- Newcastle University
- University of Plymouth
- Queen Mary and Westfield
- Robert Gordon University
- Sheffield Hallam University
We have asked Simon Blake to let us know:
- what steps Stonewall plans to take to inform employers, schools, universities, regulators and other organisations that have been members of Stonewall schemes, or received training from Stonewall, about the change of definition and the need to respect other people’s rights
- whether Stonewall has revised its position that organisations with gender-critical views are “transphobic” and “anti-trans” and should be shunned by employers, regulators, officials and Stonewall itself.