Fury as National Trust asks: What is your sexuality?
THE National Trust was accused of “barking mad” political correctness last night after it was revealed that it is asking volunteers to disclose their sexual and gender orientation.
The conservation charity was accused of “intrusive” and “unnecessary” probing into the private lives of those who give up their free time to guide people around the stately homes and other properties it owns.
The new storm comes after a row only last month when the Trust ordered volunteers to wear gay pride badges at Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk.
Now the Trust’s 65,000 volunteers have been asked by officials to identify their gender as “male, female, trans, non-binary or intersex”.
Volunteers are then asked: “Is your gender identity the same as the gender you were assigned at birth?”
They are also being quizzed over whether they are “gay, bisexual, lesbian or straight”.
Conservative MP Sir Nicholas Soames called the questioning “completely barking mad”.
Fellow Tory Andrew Bridgen said: “I’m beginning to lose trust in the National Trust. They are in danger of leaving their volunteers behind.”
And former Conservative minister Ann Widdecombe, a Daily Express columnist, said: “The National Trust has lost its way completely. These questions are intrusive and above all unnecessary.”
Last night a National Trust spokesman said: “Questions about gender identity and sexual orientation are an optional part of our annual volunteers survey, which is in itself optional. The data collected is anonymous and stored confidentially. These questions help us to understand who volunteers with us so that we can make the Trust a more relevant and accessible place to volunteer.
“We know that some groups are underrepresented in Trust volunteering and this data will help us to attract and retain a wider range of volunteers.”
Dame Helen Ghosh, 61, the Trust’s outgoing director-general, has been accused of promoting a politically correct agenda.
Volunteers ordered to wear gay pride badges at Felbrigg Hall attacked the Trust for revealing the sexuality of its last owner, Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer. They said the country squire was “intensely private” and would not want to have been “outed”.