Stonewall Equality Limited, trading as Stonewall, is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) rights charity in the United Kingdom. It is the largest LGBT rights organisation in Europe.
Named after the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, Stonewall was formed in 1989 by political activists and others campaigning against Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, including Ian McKellen, Lisa Power, and Michael Cashman. Stonewall diversified into policy development after Labour came to power in 1997, a period which saw successful campaigns to repeal Section 28, end the ban on LGBT people in the armed forces, equalise the age of consent, extend adoption and IVF rights to same-sex couples, and introduce civil partnerships.
History Stonewall was formed on 24 May 1989, in response to Section 28 of the Local Government Act. The organisation was founded by Peter Ashman, Deborah Ballard, Duncan Campbell, Olivette Cole-Wilson, Michael Cashman, Pam St Clement, Simon Fanshawe, Dorian Jabri, Ian McKellen, Matthew Parris, Lisa Power, Fiona Cunningham Reid, Peter Rivas, and Jennifer (Jennie) Wilson.
Originally named The Stonewall Lobby Group Ltd, the organisation changed its name to Stonewall Equality Ltd on 16 March 2004.
Repeal of LGBT military ban (2000)
One of Stonewall's first and longest campaigns challenged the ban on lesbians and gay men serving in the armed forces. The campaign began when Robert Ely, who had served in the British Army for 17 years, and former Army Nurse Elaine Chambers approached Stonewall. The discovery of a letter had led to Ely's sexual orientation being disclosed and he was subjected to an investigation and discharged from the army. In 1998, Stonewall was approached by Jeanette Smith, who had been discharged from the Royal Air Force, and Duncan Lustig Prean, a Royal Navy commander who was being so discharged from the Navy. 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.
The case pre-dated the Human Rights Act 1998. 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 the individuals had to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights where they were successful. The judgment of the court was a vindication of the rights of lesbians and gay men and the New Labour government of the time immediately announced that the ban would be lifted. This took effect on 12 January 2000, and a new general code of sexual conduct was introduced. While the internal policy had changed in 2000, the law banning homosexuality in the armed forces was not officially repealed until the 2016 Armed Forces Act.
In February 2005, the Royal Navy joined Stonewall's Diversity Champions programme, the Royal Air Force and the British Army, the largest of the three services in June 2008. The number of major employers involved in the programme grew from 100 members in 2005 to over 600 in 2010. Organisations now engaged in the programme, between them employing over four million people include many UK universities health trusts banks and financial institutions.
Diversity Champions programme (2001-2025) In 2001, Stonewall launched its Diversity Champions programme, a programme which worked with over 900 organisations to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people (the LGBTQ+ community) were comfortable in the workplace. This included addressing outright discrimination, as well as "more discrete" forms of heterosexist thinking.
Employers who paid to join the scheme were given a logo to use on promotional materials and were listed on a 'Proud Employers' careers site. They gained access to a library of resources and could have their policies reviewed for LGBT inclusivity by Stonewall staff. Members of the scheme were given advice on words and phrases used in their staff support materials, including a preference for gender-neutral language.
2000 - 2010
Under Angela Mason, Stonewall became the most influential LGBTQ+ lobbying organisation in Britain. Mason's tenure saw Stonewall support legal test cases in the European Court of Human Rights which included: Chris Morris and Euan Sutherland, who in Sutherland v United Kingdom successfully challenged the unequal age of consent laws. Duncan Lustig-Prean and John Beckett, who successfully challenged the ban on gay people in the armed forces. Lisa Grant, who (unsuccessfully) sued her employer, South West Trains, for equal pay and benefits.
Legislative achievements in this period or arising from Mason's work include: amendments to the 2002 Adoption and Children Bill, which treated lesbian, gay and bisexual couples in the same way as heterosexuals equalisation of the age of consent to 16 years old, as part of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000, after the use of the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949, in November 2000 repeal of Clause 2a of the Local Government Act in Scotland (2000). repeal Section 28 of the Local Government Act in England and Wales (2003) recognition of anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes through the Criminal Justice Act 2003 introduction of the Civil Partnership Act 2004, which gave same-sex couples a legal framework equivalent to civil marriage.
Away from the courts and Parliament, Stonewall launched the Diversity Champions programme in 2001. The scheme engaged employers in developing best practice and within 18 months successfully garnered members ranging from major banks, through national retailers to Government departments such as the MoD, Home Office and the Treasury. Stonewall gained Lottery funding for the Citizen 21 programme, a three-year project (2000 to 2003) which tackled LGB discrimination in education and developed materials that became widely used in the education sector. An information bank and advice service was also formed as part of the project.
Stonewall was also involved in successful parliamentary campaigns to: shape the Equality Act (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.
Same-sex marriage (2010)
Stonewall under the leadership of Ben Summerskill came under criticism in September 2010, after he made comments at a Liberal Democrat party conference fringe event that Stonewall "expressed and expresses no view" on same-sex marriage and that the equal marriage policy proposed by gay Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Williams could potentially cost £5 billion. Summerskill's comments were criticised by two of Stonewall's co-founders: Michael Cashman MEP wrote an op-ed for PinkNews entitled "What part of 'equality' can't Stonewall understand?"; and Sir Ian McKellen stated that Stonewall should put marriage equality on their agenda. Summerskill defended his comments at the Labour Party conference a week later after LGBTQ+ Labour activists criticised Stonewall's lack of transparency and democracy, and failure to lobby for marriage; he stated that "Stonewall has never pretended to be a democratic member organisation. We have never said we speak for all lesbian, gay and bisexual people." In the face of pressure from the LGBT community, including a PinkNews survey finding that 98% of the LGBTQ+ community wanted the right to marry, Stonewall announced in October 2010 their support for same-sex marriage.
In October 2010, Stonewall revised its policy and agreed to support same-sex marriage, stating "Stonewall is pleased to be widening its campaigning objectives to include extending the legal form of marriage to gay people".
PinkNews reported heavily on the refusal of Stonewall, an LGBTQ+ rights group, to actively campaign for gay marriage prior to October 2010. Stonewall's then Chief Executive Ben Summerskill suggested "it would cost a staggering £5 billion to implement", a figure later seized upon by opponents of same-sex marriage despite its lack of factual basis. The rift came to a head at Liberal Democrats conference in 2010, where Summerskill argued that "there are lots of lesbians who actually don't want marriage". The event was attended by Lynne Featherstone, the minister for equality; Evan Harris, president of Liberal Democrat LGBT+ group DELGA; and Steve Gilbert, the Lib Dem MP, all of whom said they supported same-sex marriage. A poll commissioned by PinkNews and answered by more than 800 of their readership found 98% in support of marriage equality, with many comments calling for Summerskill's resignation. Stonewall was also criticised by a former founder, Michael Cashman, MEP, over its policy.
Stonewall's former position on same-sex marriage came under greater scrutiny in March 2014, two weeks before the first same-sex marriages were to commence; in a BBC Radio 4 programme on same-sex marriage, Summerskill attacked the Liberal Democrats for being "cynical and opportunistic" during their Autumn 2010 conference, highlighting Evan Harris's comment that the policy would put "clear blue water between [them] and the Tories", a position that was criticised by Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat junior minister responsible for the act, and Peter Tatchell.
In the 2010s Stonewall's work focused on working with organisations to bring equality to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people at home, at school, and at work. Stonewall's Diversity Champions programme for major employers rose from 100 members to over 650. Organisations engaged in the programme, between them employing over four million people, ranged 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 at schools, 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.
Stonewall also holds a number of high-profile events, including the Stonewall Equality Dinner, the Stonewall Summer Party and the Brighton Equality Walk.
On the second annual International Asexuality Day, it was announced that Stonewall is launching the UK's first asexual rights initiative in partnership with asexual model and activist Yasmin Benoit. The Guardian noted that Stonewall's chief executive, Ruth Hunt, has "been criticised for being too timid – for example for not joining a boycott [in May 2014] of the Dorchester hotel, owned by the Sultan of Brunei, who gave approval to Brunei's new penal code, which urges death by stoning for same-sex sexual activity". The charity had attracted much attention when it announced in The Daily Telegraph that Stonewall would not be joining the wide boycott of the London hotel where it was to hold a gala dinner. The CEO, Ruth Hunt, argued that there was not "a mandate for the boycott" and "We only implement actions that we can calculate will have an impact."
Days before the May 2015 UK general election Stonewall apologised after being criticised for publishing an online campaign graphic which suggested that only the Labour Party substantially supported LGBTQ+ equality in its manifesto. Lib Dem Minister Stephen Williams had previously told PinkNews: "I'm astounded by this grossly misleading graphic."
Safe Schools Alliance (2020)