Gay MP John Nicolson says ‘under no circumstances’ should ‘abusive and sinister’ LGB Alliance be granted charitable status
The LGB Alliance is an ‘abusive and sinister’ group, says gay SNP MP John Nicolson
The “abusive and sinister” anti-trans lobby group LGB Alliance should “under no circumstances” be granted charitable status, says gay MP John Nicolson.
The LGB Alliance launched in October 2019 and promptly faced a blistering backlash from the wider LGBT+ community for its position on trans rights. It strongly denies it is transphobic.
The group has also faced heavy criticism for refusing to denounce its neo-Nazi and homophobe supporters, for backing founder Malcom Clark’s view that schools should not have LGBT+ clubs because of “predatory gay teachers“, and for standing by founder Bev Jackson’s comments defending working with ultra-conservative anti-LGBT+ think-tank the Heritage Foundation.
The LGB Alliance lodged an application with the Charity Commission on 13 March, 2020.
Nicolson, the SNP MP for Ochil and South Perthshire, faced targeted harassment and abuse from the group’s supporters after publicly voicing support for the trans community at the start of 2020.
After an abusive weeks-long campaign against Nicolson, which saw LGB Alliance supporters make donations to the group in his name accompanied by bigoted statements, fundraising platforms JustGiving and GoFundMe both permanently removed the LGB Alliance’s fundraising pages.
Nicolson told the Telegraph the LGB Alliance had launched a “sinister campaign of abuse” against him, with supporters branding him a “paedophile” online after he questioned their motives.
“No one is shutting it down,” he said. “It’s incredibly mouthy and loud and obstreperous and perfectly entitled to make the arguments it likes. What I object to is its demonising of trans people.
“I call the LGB Alliance sinister because it is. It’s milking the gullible for cash by claiming it is championing gay rights. Under no circumstances should they get charitable status. The Charity Commission should take one look at its abusive tweets.”
A decision on whether the LGB Alliance qualifies for charitable status has not yet been made, but a petition trying to stop the group gaining charity status on the grounds that it is a “transphobic hate group” has attracted more than 30,000 signatures.
Kate Harris of the LGB Alliance told the Telegraph: “Google LGBT charities and you will find hundreds. But LGB? None. We need the Charity Commission to show that there is a tolerance for a plurality of views.”
In November, a Charity Commission spokesperson told PinkNews there were no updates on the LGB Alliance’s application to be registered as a charity.
“We can confirm that we have received an application to register LGB Alliance as a charity. We assess all applications for registration consistently and carefully against the charity law framework. We are continuing to assess this application and cannot comment further at this time,” the Charity Commission spokesperson said.
