The trans community have pointed out the LGB Alliance’s use of virtual offices for their ‘official address’ as somewhat sketchy before. With the leak of LGB Alliance’s 55 Tufton Street address before, it seems we were right to be skeptical.

LGB Alliance’s website and other official material give their England address as 124 City Road London, EV1V 2NX. This is the address they have used to register with the Government’s Companies House and Charity Commission. LGB Alliance’s 55 Tufton Street address is not listed anywhere.

A quick google search of 124 City Road, London reveals that it is a virtual office. Think of it like a PO Box or a VPN but for offices. On its own, there is nothing wrong with using a service like this – in fact the GOV.UK website even suggests doing so when setting up a business. We will probably end up using one for Trans Writes, in fact.

However, in our use-case this will be to protect our privacy. We are targeted minorities during a moral panic and it is outright not safe to have our addresses public. I don’t believe the same can be said for LGB Alliance’s 55 Tufton Street address however. It’s not a home-address, it’s the home of a whole series of largely right-wing think tanks and policy lobbying organisations.

In a viral and explosive video covering 55 Tufton Street from Led By Donkeys; it’s heavily implied that the policy lobbying organisations there “incubated” Liz Truss over her political career. They note that every time Liz Truss received a promotion she would hire her new advisors from organisations within 55 Tufton Street.

Those of you who have been following the UK’s moral panic surrounding trans people and centered on Gender Recognition Act reform will be familiar with Liz Truss. Between 2019 and 2022 she was head of the Government Equalities Office as Minister for Women and Equalities. A role which is now filled by Kemi Badenoch; who also has ties to 55 Tufton Street.

Truss’ GEO oversaw a massive u-turn in the government’s approach to Gender Recognition Act reform. Initial plans and proposals were backpedalled on after anti-trans narratives started to take hold in the media and crucially; by politicians themselves many with connections to 55 Tufton Street.

We know that LGB Alliance’s 55 Tufton Street address extends as far back as the start of August this year – though likely longer. This means that they were in very close proximity to Liz Truss, who regularly had meetings at 55 Tufton Street according to Led By Donkeys, around the same time that this massive u-turn on trans equality and LGBTQIA started to occur.

Many Government organisations, including the GEO themselves, also pulled out of schemes ran by Stonewall UK following the targeting of Europe’s largest LGBT+ charity by transphobes. Anti-trans activists sent thousands of freedom of information requests about “dealings with Stonewall” to government organisations likely prompting what the Telegraph described as “an exodus”.

This is notable as LGB Alliance have long since positioned themselves as an alternative or opposition to Stonewall UK. Including with one of their founders, Allison Bailey, having attempted and failed to sue them. It’s extra notable since other 55 Tufton Street based organisations, such as Civitas, also levy similar criticisms against Stonewall UK in their own documents – written by associate editor of Spiked Joanna Williams.

In an attempt to defend LGB Alliance’s 55 Tufton Street address a statement was sent out via email to LGB Alliance supporters. The letter, written by Kate Barker, seems to attempt to suggest that they ended up in 55 Tufton Street by happenstance. That it just has good transport links and is local to Parliament. Though I find it very unlikely that is the case.

55 Tufton Street, from everything we know about it, doesn’t seem like the kind of place you end up in by mistake. I think that Barker knows this, as throughout the email she refuses to inform her supporters of the address. I can’t see a good reason to not allow your supporters informed consent on this matter, unless you expect that they will be less likely to support you for it.

In my opinion their reaction to having LGB Alliance’s 55 Tufton Street address leaked only makes me more skeptical of them as an organisation. It was already obvious that transphobic organisations had managed to get the ear of prominent politicians; we saw the effects of that repeatedly. But its good to finally be able to start building up proof of that proximity and I’m sure there’s a lot more to dig up yet!

 

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