Complaint
The bulletin included a report on changes to Nebraska state law which affected what it termed “young transgender people”. A listener complained that the term was indicative of bias towards “trans extremism”, being a tendentious description of people who might be “actually gay/lesbian or just gender identity confused” and would be more appropriately referred to as “young people who believe they may be transgender”. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of impartiality.
Outcome
The report was not about the broader debate on gender identity, but about a piece of legislation directed at people who, by definition, regard themselves as transgender. The phrase in question simply identified the cohort the legislation was intended to affect, and in that context it was not a requirement of impartiality to elaborate or qualify it.
Not upheld