The corporation maintained their stance, insisting that they are committed to impartiality. But when the lives of trans people are threatened, we cannot afford to be impartial.
The trans community is consistently hounded by the British media, and the BBC has a long history of providing a platform for transphobic rhetoric. In 2018, the corporation published an article titled “Twitter ‘bans women against trans ideology’, say feminists.” These ‘feminists’ were trans exclusionary radical feminists who were banned from the platform because they were purposefully misgendering trans people- a direct violation of the site’s guidelines.
Intentionally sensationalist headlines are a tired strategy that not only ruins the integrity of journalism, but also leads to hostility towards trans people. Many readers will regurgitate the headline without further research, thus spreading anti-trans rhetoric. The article failed to reach out to the people directly harmed by the viewpoints shared until after it was published. Their thinly veiled advocacy for impartiality is a charade. The BBC has one particular agenda they wish to spread: prioritising the protection of free speech over the protection of trans lives.
Flash forward two years, and the BBC’s evident support of transphobia is rife. They nominated JK Rowling’s essay on sex and gender for the 2020 Russell Prize for best writing. The essay was filled with transphobic scaremongering, notably calling for trans women to be excluded from women’s bathrooms and changing rooms. Trans women are no more of a threat to cis women than other cis women are. Trans people are, in fact, four times more likely to face violent crime than cis people are. The true danger is predatory cis men. But these facts interfere with Rowling’s transphobic narrative, and the BBC’s support of her claims is reprehensible.
