London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jul 14, 2025

Britons puzzled how dropping word 'mother' from policy doc made Scotland a darling of top LGBT+ group whose own site uses the word

Britons puzzled how dropping word 'mother' from policy doc made Scotland a darling of top LGBT+ group whose own site uses the word

The pro-LGBT+ advocacy group Stonewall reportedly bumped the Government of Scotland up its controversial Diversity Champions list after it dropped the word 'mother' from its maternity-leave policy, and some people are puzzled.

The influence of Stonewall, the powerful British LGBT+ charity, was the focus of an investigation by BBC reporter Stephen Nolan, who released his findings in a series of podcasts last week. One particular detail has caught the public attention after being highlighted by some media outlets. To be in the good graces of the group, a government needs to erase motherhood – or at least not use the word 'mother' in documents even as relevant as a state maternity-leave policy.

According to Nolan, that's how the Scottish government managed to "score points" with Stonewall. The gendered word got excluded from the documents in favour of the more inclusive terms like "spouse" or "partner." The move is presumably supposed to make the policy more friendly to trans people, who retain capacity for child birthing while identifying as male, and to non-binary persons.

The news angered many readers, who took it as one of many attacks on femininity by trans rights activists. One woman said there would be "consequences" for anyone who would dare call her anything but a mother. Another commenter said the aggressive push of non-gendered terms into the English language was making it "turned upside down to the point of being offensive to the majority."



Some people were perplexed as to why 'demothering' a government guideline would be viewed as progress by Stonewall. After all, its Scottish chapter doesn't shy away from the word "mother" when describing the benefits that young parents are entitled to.


In his podcasts, Nolan argued how Stonewall exerted undue influence on politics in the UK, while ironically receiving public money to champion its causes. One of the main tools it uses is the Diversity Champions list, which ranks employers according to their endorsement of minority rights, as decided by Stonewall experts. The Scottish government made it to the top-100 in 2019, below organizations like the British Army, MI5 and the Welsh government.


The latter made similar adjustments to the wording of Wales' maternity and adoption policy, compared to the 2018 version, though oddly the word "father" was kept in it. The 2019 variant stressed that gendered terms "should be taken as applying equally to trans or non-binary parents."

Nolan's exposé was dismissed by defenders of Stonewall as a bigoted attack on a charity that has decades of proud history of promoting minority rights. Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said it was a continuation of a "sustained attack" by a small minority of transphobic individuals.

"The current hue and cry against Stonewall has a whiff of conscious or subconscious bias," he told the morning newspaper i. "Similar criticism would not dare be made about organisations challenging racism and anti-Semitism. This dispute is a manufactured culture war that is doing the whole LGBT+ community great harm. We feel under attack."

If true, one of Stonewall's own founders, Matthew Parris, is part of that vocal minority. In a May column in The Times, he said the advocacy group had been "cornered into an extremist stance" on trans rights. Nancy Kelly, the current head of Stonewall, responded that she was "comfortable" with the direction of the organisation and likened critics to Jew-haters.

"With all beliefs including controversial beliefs there is a right to express those beliefs publicly and where they're harmful or damaging – whether it's anti-Semitic beliefs, gender critical beliefs, beliefs about disability – we have legal systems that are put in place for people who are harmed by that," she said at the time.

Stonewall and its allies insist that their current fight for trans rights is no different from the fight for gay rights decades ago. The charity started championing trans rights in 2015.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
President Trump Visits Flood-Ravaged Texas, Praises Community Strength and First Responders
From Mystery to Meltdown, Crisis Within the Trump Administration: Epstein Files Ignite A Deepening Rift at the Highest Levels of Government Reveals Chaos, Leaks, and Growing MAGA Backlash
Trump Slams Putin Over War Death Toll, Teases Major Russia Announcement
Reparations argument crushed
Rainmaker CEO Says Cloud Seeding Paused Before Deadly Texas Floods
A 92-year-old woman, who felt she doesn't belong in a nursing home, escaped the death-camp by climbing a gate nearly 8 ft tall
French Journalist Acquitted in Controversial Case Involving Brigitte Macron
Elon Musk’s xAI Targets $200 Billion Valuation in New Fundraising Round
Kraft Heinz Considers Splitting Off Grocery Division Amid Strategic Review
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
EU Proposes New Tax on Large Companies to Boost Budget
Trump Imposes 35% Tariffs on Canadian Imports Amid Trade Tensions
Junior Doctors in the UK Prepare for Five-Day Strike Over Pay Disputes
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Biden’s Doctor Pleads the Fifth to Avoid Self-Incrimination on President’s Medical Fitness
Grok Chatbot Faces International Backlash for Antisemitic Content
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
×