LGB Alliance Co-Founder In Tears When Asked To Define "Lesbian"
September 18, 2022A co-founder of LGB Alliance broke down in tears during cross-examination on Thursday after being asked to define the word "lesbian," prompting the court to adjourn. This happened during a legal challenge to the Charity Commission’s decision to award charitable status to the organization, according to the Guardian.
A legal challenge brought by the children’s trans rights charity Mermaids has meant the word "lesbian" has been analyzed on several occasions during five days of court hearings.
Co-founder of LGB Alliance Kate Harris was invited by Michael Gibbon KC, counsel for Mermaids, to reflect on whether some people would have a different understanding of lesbian from the definition given by her organization.
“That a woman can be a man with a penis?” she asked.
Gibbon responded: “Putting it in a more neutral way, that lesbians can include someone who is a woman as a result of gender reassignment.”
Harris, who is lesbian, was distressed by the exchange. The judge called for a short adjournment and Gibbon later apologized if he had “raised something inadvertently upsetting.” Harris said: “I’m going to speak for millions of lesbians around the world who are lesbians because we love other women […] We will not be erased and we will not have any man with a penis tell us he’s a lesbian because he feels he is.”
She added: “A lesbian is attracted to another biological woman, full stop.”
Mermaids argues that LGB Alliance was created as an anti-trans organization to undermine the work of Mermaids and other charities, such as Stonewall, which advocate for trans rights. The case questions whether the LGB Alliance meets the legal threshold for charitable status, requiring its purpose to be “exclusively charitable for the public benefit.”
The LGB Alliance says that it is promoting the rights of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people, based on its position that there are only two sexes and that gender is a social construct. Harris said her organization was created to protect children from a “dangerous and confusing gender-identity ideology.”
Mermaids’ counsel questioned Harris and LGB Alliance’s chair of trustees, Eileen Gallagher, on the “combative” and “confrontational” language used by the charity, including accusing Mermaids of child abuse and of spreading lies. The lawyer said Mermaids took the safeguarding of children very seriously and questioned whether it was LGB Alliance’s place to criticize the national lottery and Starbucks for choosing to fund Mermaids.
Gibbon asked Gallagher about the balance between LGB Alliance’s political lobbying and its charitable work, asking for details of its commissioned research and plans to launch a helpline.
Harris rejected the charity had an anti-trans agenda. “People like us and JK Rowling and thousands of others have been called anti-trans for the simple reason that we say biology is real and that there are two sexes,” she said. She added that the use of terms like anti-trans and transphobic were “lazy shorthand” used to avoid dialogue.
The hearing, which was due to end on Friday, has been adjourned until November.
Read related myGwork articles here:
Appeal Against Charity Status Of LGB Alliance To Be Heard In 2022
‘LGB Alliance’ Group Is Being Labeled As Transphobic
LGB Alliance Ireland Attempt to Sink Schools Anti-LGBT Bullying Policies
Trans-Exclusionary Group LGB Alliance Has Officially Been Recognised As A ‘Charity’
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