BBC trans row over Brain of Britain final

THE BBC promoted an ‘all-women final’ in a quiz contest where one of the contestants was transgender.

Radio 4’s Russell Davies said it was ‘all-women’ first for the 69th Brain of Britain decider on Monday.

And on Women’s Hour yesterday presenter Emma Barnett described it as a ‘historic’ occasion. But some listeners took issue with the fact that one of the finalists – Emma Laslett – is a trans woman. One wrote: ‘If four trans women turned up you’d still claim it was an allwoman final and a great achievement for women. How utterly ridiculous.’

Another tweeted: ‘Don’t want to be churlish but this was not a 100 per cent female line-up.’

Maya Forstater, of campaign group Sex Matters, said: ‘The sad thing is that whenever the first Brain of Britain contest with four female contestants really does happen it will go unremarked.’

But Twitter user Rubin Remus said: ‘Instead of enjoying Brain of Britain like a normal listener, [other Twitter users] complain about them not misgendering a trans woman.’

A BBC spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. Miss Laslett is a charity worker from Milton Keynes.