Children in Need funds group that claims gender-critical views are racist

Telegraph

11 hours ago

BBC Children in Need has helped fund a group that claims gender-critical beliefs are rooted in 'white supremacy'.
Anti-Racist Cumbria has claimed that opposition to gender ideology – the idea that people can choose to become a man or woman – is rooted in 'patriarchy' and 'oppression'.
The charity that works with local schools claimed that the views of JK Rowling and other gender-critical feminists are the result of 'white supremacy'.
In a lengthy statement, the charity added that 'defining womanhood as 'biological' is dangerous' and can lead down a 'slippery slope of white supremacy thinking'.
BBC Children in Need, which is independent of the BBC's leadership and funded by public donations, is currently helping to fund this charity.
It will provide a £42,500 grant for a two-year period, topping up a previous £50,000 allocation, to launch a TikTok channel to share 'anti-racist educational resources' and news about its youth outreach work.
'Politically black'
Children in Need is listed as a funder of Anti-Racist Cumbria in its most recent annual accounts.
This work has included a youth club pitched at 'black and brown' youngsters, including those who are 'politically black'.
Founded in 2020, Anti-Racist Cumbria also provides courses that 'promote anti-racism' in schools, and runs workshops with businesses covering issues such as 'white privilege' and 'understanding whiteness'.
This work is supported financially by foundations, National Lottery funding, and Westmorland and Furness council, which in February raised council tax by 4.99 per cent.
The charity moved on to the transgender debate in a lengthy criticism of gender-critical feminists following the Supreme Court ruling in April that made clear 'women' were legally defined by their biological sex.
This followed a legal battle launched by campaign group For Women Scotland to challenge the Scottish Government's decision to count anyone 'living as a woman' in official statistics on the number of female board members.
Anti-Racist Cumbria claimed following the Supreme Court decision: 'The activism of so-called 'gender-critical feminists', supported by the likes of JK Rowling and the Trump movement, will not stop here.
'The fight against trans rights does not exist in isolation, and although it is dressed up as 'women's rights', it's a direct result of patriarchy and white supremacy as systems of oppression.'
The post also included an image of JK Rowling smoking a cigar 'on her superyacht', the charity claimed in a picture caption, while many 'transgender people have experienced homelessness'.
The lengthy article about the gender ruling, on the 'resources' section of the charity's website, also touched on issues of women's safety, which it claimed were preludes to 'fascism'.
'The road to fascism'
The charity shared an image of young female campaigners with the Women's Safety Initiative UK, which aims to 'expose the dangers of uncontrolled immigration' with regard to sexual assaults on women.
Anti-Racist Cumbria stated on its website that the Women's Safety Initiative UK is raising concerns about foreign sex criminals, stating: 'The fight for women's rights is being used to hide the dark underbelly of not only transphobia, but racism too.
'It is not a stretch to say that the road that we are being driven down is the road to fascism.'
Alka Sehgal Cuthbert, director of campaign group Don't Divide Us, has criticised the charity's ideological claims.
She said: 'This is a perfect illustration of how racism has become unmoored from its original meaning. Accusing a person or organisation of being a racist or white supremacist used to be something we reserved for the BNP or the National Front. It used to mean something.
'Now it's been utterly diluted by activists, who use 'white supremacy' as a snarl because they can't defend their own arguments. BBC Children in Need should not be funding organisations that cheapen the meaning of racism.'
BBC Children in Need said that the charity is 'independently governed and does not take a position on matters of public policy. None of the funding awarded by BBC Children in Need supports policy or campaigning activity'.
It added: 'We are currently funding the Young Black Arctivists project for young black British people in Cumbria, to create and deliver educational resources that encourage unity across communities.'
Anti-Racist Cumbria has provided training to staff at Wordsworth's former home of Dove Cottage, now a museum that is seeking to root out the poet's colonial past as revealed by the Telegraph.