Charity Commission confirms registration of LGB Alliance
The Charity Commission has decided, after careful consideration, that the LGB Alliance (LGBA) should be entered onto the Register of Charities.
LGBA applied to register as a charity in March 2020. Its purposes are to promote equality and diversity and human rights.
The test of charity status is set out in law. A charity is an organisation with exclusively charitable purposes for the public benefit, that is subject to the jurisdiction of the High Court of England and Wales. If it meets these legal tests, it will be entered on the charity register.
It is not the Commission’s role to make value judgements about the aims or ideas put forward by any organisation. Instead, its role is to decide whether an organisation’s purposes fall within the legal definition of charity.
The Commission received a number of objections to the registration of LGBA as a charity. It carefully considered these as part of making its decision. In handling this application, the Commission has had regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty.
Registered charities fall under the Commission’s regulation, and their trustees must continuously meet the legal duties and responsibilities set down under charity law. A charity can promote the rights of one or more specific groups, but may not do so whilst demeaning or denigrating the rights of others, including on social media – and the Commission will consider taking regulatory action where that occurs.
The full decision, explaining the grounds for registering the organisation and the objections that were considered, can be found on GOV.UK