charities

Mermaids v LGB Alliance: Tribunal rejects attempt to deregister controversial charity

29 July 2023 by Marina Wheeler QC

Despite what the parties and their supporters hoped, this case (Mermaids v The Charity Commission of England and Wales & LGB Alliance [2023] ULKFTT 563 (GRC)) was not – said the Tribunal – about the rights of gender diverse people (as represented by Mermaids) or the rights of gay, lesbian and bisexual people (represented by the LGB Alliance). 

On the face of it, the issue decided by the Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber, Charity) on 6 July 2023 was a narrow one: whether Mermaids was entitled to challenge the Charity Commission’s decision to register the LGB Alliance as a charity. But its ruling – that Mermaids could not – was highly significant as a robust affirmation of the value of debate in a democratic society.