Trans group hired by BBC urged staff to lobby MPs
BBC staff were trained by transgender campaigners who suggested they should lobby politicians about gender identity issues, it has been revealed.
The Global Butterflies awareness group reportedly told corporation journalists to use their ‘magic ally powers’ to champion trans rights.
The revelation has sparked concerns that the advice was at odds with the BBC’s rules on impartiality.
It comes after the BBC withdrew from a workplace diversity scheme run by LGBT charity Stonewall last year over concerns the link might undermine the company’s neutrality on certain issues.
Yesterday the broadcaster said the transgender course was ‘voluntary’ and the ‘training materials’ had been ‘provided by a third party’. But it added that its editorial guidelines are ‘sacrosanct’ and that staff knew this.
Global Butterflies, which was set up in 2015, describes itself as a group ‘created to bring awareness of trans and non-binary issues to the business sector’.
It aims to help organisations ‘adopt a zero-tolerance approach to transphobic behaviour and attitudes’ and help them be more inclusive. It is reported that during the voluntary session on Monday for new staff, a slide was shown which read: ‘An ally uses their privilege, whatever that might be, e.g. wealth, seniority, ethnicity, connections, social status etc, to access influencers – for example, leaders, celebrities – change the minds of the media, influence politicians, write or share stories and articles and tell people what is happening.’
The corporation said the ‘slide in question’ would be ‘removed for any future sessions’.
Another slide shown later at the training reportedly showed people with placards and the person doing the training telling staff ‘don’t be afraid to protest’.
The training was made public by the BBC Radio Ulster programme The Nolan Show, according to The Times. It comes after Stephen Nolan’s team produced a podcast last year looking at the corporation’s relationship with Stonewall.
An insider told The Nolan Show that they had spotted one of the BBC staff present at the Global Butterflies session but the person had failed to raise any objections to the messaging. The individual said
‘How is that impartial?’
they were not clear how this information tallied with the corporation’s own rules on impartiality.
They said: ‘The second you join the BBC, impartiality is hammered into you.’ The person added: ‘As soon as I saw that [slide], I was thinking, “How is this impartial?”’
A BBC spokesman said: ‘This is a voluntary course and includes generic training materials provided by a third party, but the BBC’s editorial guidelines are sacrosanct, our staff know this and they understand their responsibilities.
‘The slide in question has not been included previously and will be removed for any future sessions.’
It comes weeks after corporation bosses admitted that an article claiming some lesbians feel pressured into sex by trans women did not meet accuracy standards.
The story sparked widespread anger and accusations of transphobia when it was published in October last year. The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit ruled earlier this month that the piece did not meet the broadcaster’s expected standards after receiving a large volume of complaints.
Among the inaccuracies was the article’s headline, which was found to be misleading for suggesting that trans women were actively putting pressure on lesbians to have sex.