The founder of an LGBT Pride organization in Surrey, UK worked with closely with local police while committing vile crimes against children. Stephen Ireland, 40, the head of Pride in Surrey, was ultimately arrested by the very officers who had been promoting his “anti-hate” efforts and campaign to teach gender ideology to local children.
On August 14, Ireland, along with one of the volunteers from his organization, were both arrested and jointly charged with 15 offenses, including conspiracy to kidnap a child and conspiracy to sexually assault a child.
Ireland was separately charged with an additional 22 offenses, including the rape of a child, the sexual assault of a child, and six counts of making indecent photographs of children. In all cases, the victim is said to be under the age of 13. His colleague, David Sutton, 26, was charged with an additional 7 similarly serious offenses.
Following Ireland’s establishment of Pride in Surrey in 2018, the organization was responsible for arranging the annual Pride festivities, which included activities for children and youth. As a result of his activism, Ireland garnered the support of Surrey Police, who regularly attended events he organized in cars outfitted with rainbow decals.
On June 6, shortly before Ireland was arrested on numerous child sexual abuse charges, Surrey Police visited local school Woking High with his organization to take part in “Pride engagement” work. The force would have already been aware of the charges prepared to be pressed against Ireland at this time.
Yet this was not the first time Pride in Surrey had worked with local law enforcement.
In 2021, Ireland was invited to speak at an LGBT History Month Seminar hosted by Surrey Police. In February of 2024, Pride in Surrey also shortlisted Surrey Police for a Community Champion Award. The page listing the event has since been scrubbed, but was viewed by Reduxx prior to its deletion.
In 2018, according to a social media post made by the Pride in Surrey account, Ireland was invited to speak at a training day for Surrey Police’s LGBT+ liaison officer task force.
For several years, local police officers were regular attendees of Pride events, and from their official social media account, encouraged citizens to follow Ireland’s activist group.
Surrey Police has come under intense scrutiny since the publication of Ireland’s arrest, as this is not the first time they have been found to have been closely collaborating with an individual accused of child sex offenses.
As previously reported by Reduxx, Surrey Police has been known for harshly enforcing the complaints of convicted child sex offender Stephanie Hayden, a trans-identified male who frequently targets women critical of his trans activism.
On October 3, 2022, Surrey Police arrested mother Caroline Farrow in front of her children for posts she made on social media about Hayden. Her electronic devices were seized and she was subjected to intense interrogation for her views on gender ideology. The arrest, along with others initiated by Hayden, have prompted some to argue that Surrey Police display a particular favoritism towards the convicted pedophile.
Disturbingly, since founding Pride in Surrey, Ireland had been actively leading Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) seminars, and was a patron of the trans activist charity Educate and Celebrate.
The charity, founded by Dr. Elly Barnes, a teacher who received an MBE for her contribution to equality and diversity in education, sought to “embed gender, gender identity and sexual orientation into the fabric” of societal institutions.
To promote this goal, Educate and Celebrate created lesson plans and resources regarding gender identity for public schools aimed at children and teenagers.
In 2017, the charity placed books encouraging children to question their gender on their reading lists for nurseries and primary schools – meaning they would be accessible to children as young as three years old.
The organization ran a PRIDE Youth Network program targeted at children aged 11 – 18 years old, and encouraged youth to “campaign for social justice in their schools” while providing “a particular focus on gender identity and sexual orientation.”
Educate and Celebrate additionally boasted of its global reach, having partnered with international schools to have their resources used in classrooms in Thailand and Cambodia.
Ireland was a patron of Educate and Celebrate alongside leading LGBT activist Peter Tatchell, with whom Ireland has attended events and has praised as an “inspiration.” Tatchell has been widely regarded as a pedophile sympathizer by many, and, as previously reported by Reduxx, Tatchell has an unsettling history of downplaying the harms of child sexual abuse.
In 1986, Tatchell contributed a chapter to a book compiled by Warren Middleton, former vice-chairman of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), entitled “Betrayal of Youth: Radical perspectives on Childhood Sexuality, Intergenerational Sex, and the Social Oppression of Children and Young People”. PIE, which for a decade advocated for adult-minor sexual relationships to be decriminalized and called for abolishing the age of consent, was disbanded in 1984, and several prominent members were arrested for child sexual abuse offenses.
Yet Tatchell’s prior advocacy has not prevented him from continuing his career as an LGBT activist, nor has it irreparably damaged his reputation. His organization, the Peter Tatchell Foundation, currently works with the London Metropolitan Police in order to establish “collaboration and cooperation”, and last February, he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Gaydio Pride Awards in Manchester.
Ireland congratulated Tatchell on social media, saying, “Thank you for being such an inspiration and doing what you do for rights of so many people worldwide.”
Educate and Celebrate mysteriously shut down in January following years of controversy, including outrage after one of their patrons, trans-identified male comedian Jordan Gray, stripped naked on a live television program and played a keyboard with his penis.
Gray had claimed to have talked to students in schools about “gender” on behalf of Educate and Celebrate, adding that “toddlers kind of get it straight away.”
While in his leadership role with Pride in Surrey, Ireland promoted BDSM and fetish activities on social media.
In 2021, he posted a photo of himself celebrating International Fetish Day at Pride in Surrey with a young person identified only as “Pup Astro” sporting a collar and a lead.
But Educate and Celebrate was not the only trans activist group mired in controversy that Ireland had been associated with.
For years Ireland endorsed trans youth charity Mermaids, an organization that advocates for an affirmation-only approach to gender dysphoria in young people, promoting the use of puberty blockers, cross sex hormones, and surgeries for minors who claim to be transgender. In a statement issued March 12 condemning NHS England’s ban on the prescription of puberty-halting drugs, Mermaids argued that the medications were part of “holistic and supportive healthcare for trans youth.”
In October 2022, Mermaids received strong criticism after it was revealed that one member of their board of trustees, Jacob Breslow, an Associate Professor at the London School of Economics, had, on several occasions, made statements and published academic work that favorably portrayed pedophilia. Breslow had spoken at a conference hosted by pedophile advocacy organization B4U-Act, had shared child sexual abuse materials via a now-deleted blog, and argued for reframing pedophilia as a sexual identity comparable to homosexuality.
Absolutely loved my @Mermaids_Gender cookie in @StarbucksUK Woking.
— Stephen A Ireland (He/Him) (@StephenAIreland) February 5, 2020
Have you had one yet? It’s yummy!
50p from every cookie sale goes to Mermaids and if you buy one in Surrey, share a pic on socials with @PrideInSurrey using #morePride for a chance to win some Pride goodies! pic.twitter.com/QrusqI2UVs
Ireland had, for several years, also encouraged his supporters to donate to Mermaids, and continued to do so after it came to light that a pedophile activist had been in a leadership position at the trans youth charity, and after the Charity Commission for England and Wales announced a formal inquiry into Mermaids.
Yesterday, Pride in Surrey, Ireland’s organization, issued a statement revealing that they had been aware of an investigation into Ireland since June, but claimed they were unaware of what, exactly, he was being pursued for.
“On 12th June, Pride in Surrey were informed by Surrey Police of an ongoing investigation surrounding two volunteers. Both volunteers were immediately suspended from the organisation. Following this, a decision was made to remove them both from the organisation, as well as Stephen Ireland as a director. We were not aware of the exact nature of the crimes being investigated,” the statement read. “[On August 15] Pride in Surrey were made aware of the charges made against both volunteers via a social media post. We are appalled and horrified at the charges which have been brought against the two individuals. We will fully cooperate with Surrey Police in any way they require. Our thoughts are with the alleged victims and their families.”
Ireland and Sutton are next expected to appear in court on September 12.
Surrey Police are calling for anyone with information into the ongoing investigation to get in touch by quoting ref PR/45240080974 using the live chat on its website, the online reporting tool, or calling 101. Individuals who wish not to speak directly to police can report information to Crimestoppers anonymously by calling 0800 555 111.
