The transgender children’s charity Mermaids has lost its attempt to have charitable status stripped from the new gay rights organisation LGB Alliance.
Tribunal judges Lynn Griffin and Joseph Neville rejected a challenge lodged last year by Mermaids, concluding after seven months of deliberation that the law does not permit Mermaids to challenge a decision made by the Charity Commission to register LGB Alliance as a charity.
Mermaids last year requested a review of the commission’s 2021 decision to grant charitable status to the LGB Alliance.
Issuing the ruling at the general regulatory chamber on Thursday, 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.”
This is understood to be the first time one charity has attempted to remove the legal status of another, and the judges’ decision has significance stretching beyond this case. If the court had decided that the commission was wrong to award charitable status to LGB Alliance, it could have made other charities vulnerable to legal challenges by institutions with conflicting outlooks.
Kate Barker, the chief executive of LGB Alliance, said: “We are absolutely delighted with this judgment and with the news that we will retain our charitable status.
“Two years ago, we were clear that Mermaids had no standing to challenge our registration, and today the tribunal has confirmed that we were correct. While this is a battle we did not seek, neither would we flee from it. But the cost to us and to our supporters has been huge.
“Our legal fees amount to more than £250K and that money has come from small supporter donations. So, while our win is great news for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals, we can’t help but reflect on the fact that a sum like that would have been better spent on projects such as our helpline for young people.”
In the hearing last autumn, the two organisations set out their opposing views. The legal discussion pitched the LGB Alliance’s position that there are only two sexes and that gender is a social construct against Mermaids’ position that the gender identity of trans people should be affirmed. It focused attention on increasingly divisive debates over sex and gender identity, and the legal definitions of same-sex attraction and sexual orientation.
Mermaids said it was “disappointed” by the tribunal decision and was taking legal advice on a possible appeal.
In a statement, the charity said: “While we are disappointed by the finding that we did not have standing to bring the appeal, Mermaids is proud to have been able to speak up authentically for the trans community in court, and to have demonstrated that the LGBT+ sector is united in its trans-inclusive approach, which we believe to be a victory in itself.”
A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “We welcome this judgment. As the judges confirm, it is not the Charity Commission’s role to regulate public debate on sensitive issues on which there are deeply held, sincere beliefs on all sides. Our role is to apply the law, and we consider that we did so in registering LGB Alliance as a charity.
“All charities, ultimately, must deliver on their purposes for the public benefit. We understand both charities hold opposing views, but when engaging in public debate and campaigning, they should do so with respect and tolerance. Demonising and undermining those who think differently is not acceptable behaviour from any charity on our register.”
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