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I really hope I& #39;m wrong and the world is turning its back on Mermaids but I& #39;ve spent way too much time looking into these claims and I just can& #39;t find any evidence that it& #39;s true. More info below:
Yes Stonewall has blanked it& #39;s mermaids page, which could be found under the url branch http://stonewall.org.uk/organisations/ ">https://stonewall.org.uk/organisat... but from what I can see it& #39;s blanked all the other organisations too. They seem to have replaced it in 2019 with this page: https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/news/lgbt-inclusive-organisations-you-should-know-aboutrestricted">https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/... >
That page includes a direct link to the Mermaids website. But now even that page is buried within the navigation (i.e. difficult to find without a direct link). They pretty much got rid of all signposting to other orgs except local groups ("what& #39;s in your area?"). >
I think this is likely a strategy to keep people within their site/services, which is not uncommon when everyone& #39;s looking for page hits and numbers to impress their funders/get clout. Searches for "Mermaids" on the Stonewall website still bring up quite a few hits (articles).
With Childline, they do not have a list of orgs they signpost to either. So where would the Mermaids link be? I checked their gender identity page using the Wayback Machine and they weren& #39;t on it in February 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190216115450/https://www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/your-feelings/sexual-identity/transgender-identity/">https://web.archive.org/web/20190...
So it& #39;s hard to prove the link was ever there. Seems unlikely it& #39;d go up and come down so quickly. Childline do have an "Ask Sam" area where kids can write in and Mermaids are not mentioned in their responses but Gendered Intelligence are. >
I still don& #39;t believe this is evidence Mermaids have been scrubbed - probably just organisational preference with regard to referrals. As far as I know there& #39;s no way to check this. >
With the NSPCC, they also do not have a list of organisations they signpost to. So where would the link be? I searched for Gendered Intelligence, they don& #39;t come up either. Stonewall do but only twice - both mentions in news articles. There& #39;s no evidence Mermaids ever featured. >
Obviously I may have missed something and I& #39;d love to see screenshots or wayback links that show a different story because I want to believe this change is happening. At the moment I just can& #39;t see evidence for it.
Seeing people say Starbucks have scrubbed Mermaids now too. The menu page for "Mermaid cookies" has never been archived so unless there& #39;s a screenshot it& #39;s impossible to know if the charity was ever mentioned. >
The partnership with Mermaids has never featured on their "Our Community" pages. It was launched in Feb 20 and the page was archived May 20 here https://web.archive.org/web/20200525200512/https://www.starbucks.co.uk/responsibility/socialimpact/ourcommunities">https://web.archive.org/web/20200... >
Starbucks UK is a very limited site - they do not publish articles or news, all of this is found on the .com site. All the Mermaids stories and articles etc are still up.
Here& #39;s a link to their page about the partnership with Mermaids: https://stories.starbucks.com/emea/stories/2020/whatsyourname/">https://stories.starbucks.com/emea/stor...
