Conway Hall, against discrimination (Unless it’s Transphobia)

Posted by Zoe O'Connell in Equality on 18 May 2012

Conway Hall <http://www.conwayhall.org.uk/> , who have close links
with the National Secular Society <http://www.secularism.org.uk/> and
British Humanists Association <http://www.humanism.org.uk/home> , have
landed themselves in a spot of bother over their hosting of the
upcoming “RadFem2012″ conference in London. For those not in the know,
many (Not all!) radical feminists are openly and unapologetic
transphobic, using inappropriate pronouns for trans folk and excluding
them from gendered spaces when ever possible. Recently, people
associated with RadFem2012 have taken to publicly outing Trans people,
including writing to potential employers to let them know they’re
hiring a Trans person.

A number of people have been talking about running a protest outside
the event in July and a few people contacted the hosts, Conway Hall,
to enquire about their support of the event. Their reply has many
people rightly annoyed, stating that it’s all about protecting
“vulnerable groups” and thus fine by them
<http://pic.twitter.com/4qF2Nxq9> . Inconveniently for Conway Hall,
they have acted against misogyny at events they host in the past, such
as in 2009 <http://www.secularism.org.uk/mysogynist-islamist-group-forced.html>
. They also seem happy to advertise that, which would suggest that
whilst they’re keen to publicly announce their strong
anti-discrimination policy, that policy does not extend to Trans folk.

(This may also be unlawful under the Equalities Act 2010, by the way)

If you’d like to complain, Conway Hall have a contact form
<http://conwayhall.org.uk/contact-us> or you con contact them on
Twitter <https://twitter.com/conwayhall> . Their CEO is also on
Twitter <https://twitter.com/Dr_Jim1> , if you’d like to contact him
direct.

Updates: There is also a list of Trustees you can contact
<http://charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/Conta...>
on the Charity Commission web site, although I do not know any of them
myself, along with an email address: j...@ethicalsoc.org.uk.

Emma Brownbill <https://twitter.com/emb> points out that Andrew Copson
on the Trustee list is chair of the British Humanist Association. He
is on Twitter at @andrewcopson <https://twitter.com/andrewcopson>

http://www.complicity.co.uk/blog/2012/05/conway-hall-transphobia/