SCOTTISH Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie has sent out a warning that there will be a threat to LGBTQ+ rights if an attack to "destroy" Stonewall is successful.
The Scottish Government minister added his voice to the debate surrounding the charity which has been facing criticism over its influence on public policy.
Journalist Stephen Nolan has launched a series of podcasts on BBC Sounds investigating the influence of Stonewall on public institutions - including Ofcom and the BBC.
It comes as number of high profile organisations have left Stonewall's schemes in recent months.
Patrick Harvie joined in on the 'I stand with Stonewall' hashtag on Thursday night.
If the campaign to destroy Stonewall is successful, don't kid yourself it will end there. This will eventually threaten every organisation, community group, and campaign which has struggled for decades to achieve LGBTQ+ human rights.#IStandWithStonewall https://t.co/yWqmw71bGD
— Patrick Harvie 🇪🇺🌈 (@patrickharvie) October 14, 2021
He said on Twitter: "If the campaign to destroy Stonewall is successful, don't kid yourself it will end there.
"This will eventually threaten every organisation, community group, and campaign which has struggled for decades to achieve LGBTQ+ human rights."
Harvie has said that those attacking Stonewall are mobilising around an "opportunistic hate campaign" specifically targeted against trans and non-binary people.
Debate has been highly publicised around gender identity in recent months.
The Scottish Government is currently planning to reform the law to make is quicker and easier for trans people to change their gender in the eyes of the law, reducing the time period from two years to six months and ending the need for a medical diagnosis.
Critics say the switch to a self-ID system could be abused by men seeking access to women-only spaces such as changing rooms, prisons and refuges.
READ MORE: SNP ministers criticised for urging 'anyone with a cervix' to get a smear test
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel