BBC Examining Image, Treatment of LGBT Persons On Network

The BBC is undertaking an investigation into portrayals of LGBT individuals on tv and radio and via its Internet presence. Peter Tatchell reports in the Guardian that the network has received decades of criticism, and is finally examining not just images of gays, lesbians, and transgendered persons on air, but uses of slurs against them. Says Mr. Tatchell,

Last December, it [the BBC] reported on legislation before the Ugandan parliament that seeks to impose the death penalty for repeated same-sex acts. In response, the corporation’s Have Your Say Africa site hosted an online debate: “Should homosexuals face execution?” The BBC later apologised for the headline. It would not, I suspect, hold online debates such as: Should black people be lynched? Moreover, the BBC’s commentary announcing the debate put a very weak case against the execution of LGB Ugandans. It read like an open invitation for respondents to endorse the state-sponsored killing of LGBs.

Read the article here.