National Lottery Fund to award transgender charity Mermaids UK with funding after ‘reviewing’ a number of ‘concerns’
In December, the Big Lottery Fund said they would donate £500,000 to the charity
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
The National Lottery Fund will award money to the transgender charity Mermaids after ‘reviewing’ the funding following ‘concerns’.
In December last year, the Sunday Times criticised the move by the Lottery Fund claiming the charity had been accused of bullying doctors, promoting falsehoods and using ‘emotional blackmail’ to pressure parents to support gender confirmation surgery.
But following concerns made, the Lottery Fund decided to ‘review’ the £500,000 proposed funding but now in a new statement, the National Lottery Community Fund has approved the money.
The statement reads: “Following public interest regarding the proposed grant to Mermaids UK, The National Lottery Community Fund undertook a review of a number of concerns expressed in relation to the charity.
“This review did not find any grounds to withhold funding from Mermaids UK. The grant has therefore been approved by the England Funding Committee.
“As part of our grant management process, we will work closely with Mermaids UK to ensure they are supported in their development.”
Mermaids is a charity that supports young people who are experiencing gender dysphoria and have been campaigning for children to have support in schools and the healthcare system.
The charity took to Twitter to confirm they received the grant of £500,000 over a five year period.
Mermaids and The National Lottery Community Fund
The National Lottery Community Fund has confirmed that it will be supporting Mermaids with a grant of £500,000 over the course of 5 years. https://t.co/fgmRUJR84d pic.twitter.com/cNv3Y13ias
— Mermaids 🧜🏻♀️ (@Mermaids_Gender) February 19, 2019