More than 30 academics say educational freedom is being stifled by homosexual lobby group Stonewall.
In a letter to The Sunday Times, they said “tendentious and anti-scientific claims” are presented by Stonewall to staff as “objective fact, without the opportunity for scrutiny”.
The group asked Stonewall to clarify its support for academic freedom, and, failing this, urged universities to split from the organisation.
Radical gender ideology
In their letter, the academics said there is an “inappropriately close relationship” between the LGBT activist group and UK universities in the Stonewall Diversity Champions Programme (SDCP).
SDCP requires its members to enforce transgender policies which could ban teaching and research questioning radical gender ideology.
many of us would deny that pronouns refer to an inner feeling of gender identity, and wish to say so.
The programme includes ‘trans awareness training’ for university staff, promoting the ideas that “gender is how people interpret and view themselves” and that “1 in 100 are born with an intersex trait”.
The academics said: “In our teaching, we’re exhorted to ‘ask the pronouns’ of students. Yet many of us would deny that pronouns refer to an inner feeling of gender identity, and wish to say so.”
‘Dogmatic’
One of the signatories, Professor of Modern History at Oxford University Selina Todd, said Stonewall “is really pushing an agenda which is dogmatic and completely overruling freedom of speech”.
a “dogmatic” agenda
It was recently revealed that 40 UK universities spent almost £1m on LGBT training for their staff over the past five years.
A total of £916,000 was spent on activist groups, Gires, Gendered Intelligence and Stonewall.
Cardiff University spent the most – £77,186 – and in January, was ranked number eleven in Stonewall’s Top 100 Employers for 2019. It was the highest placed educational establishment.
