Mick Hartley

BBC children’s programmes pushed a trans agenda. As if we didn’t know. From the Times:

BBC bosses have been accused of “downplaying” concerns that children’s programmes promoted transgender ideology after producers were influenced by activists.

The accusation came after a cache of emails, shared with The Times, revealed how both a Labour peer and campaigners repeatedly warned of a “pro-transitioning narrative” being pushed within the BBC Children’s and Education department.

The messages also reveal that BBC chiefs continually refused to meet gender-critical campaign groups concerned about the medical transitioning of children and rise in gender identity teaching in schools.

BBC staff were at the same time consulting LGBT rights charity Stonewall, which they considered to be experts on sexuality and transgender issues.

They were captured by Stonewall, in other words, and enthusiastically promoted the whole trans ideology: that children could be born in the wrong body, that puberty blockers were the answer to every troubled (gay) child’s prayer, that there were loads of different genders to choose from, that trans children were happy children.

In emails sent in 2020 to the director of the Children’s and Education department, Patricia Hidalgo, Transgender Trend director, Stephanie Davies-Arai, flagged issues about both online and broadcast output.

Content she identified as problematic included a since-removed BBC Bitesize article, which linked to Stonewall, encouraging young people to use “preferred pronouns” such as “they/them” and “ze/zir” to show that they are “allies” to transgender people.

She similarly identified a video by BBC Teach, which provides resources to primary schools, that tells children there are more than 100 genders.

Other transgender-focused content flagged included a 2015 documentary broadcast on CBBC called I am Leo, about a 13-year-old girl who transitions to the opposite gender, the 2016 CBBC drama Just a Girl and four-part school drama, First Day, screened in 2020.

But the BBC brushed off any accusations of following a trans agenda, and refused to meet critics.

Speaking to The Times this week, Davies Arai said: “We have spent many years attempting to alert BBC executives to the fact that children’s programming appears to be following Stonewall’s pro-transitioning playbook when it comes to trans issues.

“But rather than allowing us to speak to BBC staff to give them an alternative narrative, these executives only seem intent on downplaying that any problems exist.”