FALLOUT

5 LGBTQ Employees Quit the BBC Over Transphobia Concerns

“I know about eight trans people that left the organization in the past 12 months because they don’t believe that the BBC is impartial anymore,” one employee said.

Five LGBTQ employees of the British Broadcasting Corporation have quit in recent weeks over concerns about transphobia and how the venerated public service broadcaster approaches stories about LGBTQ people, Vice reports. The most recent departure reportedly took place last week, shortly after a heated listening session for the company’s Pride Network, an LGBTQ employee resource group, that ran half an hour longer than expected due to so many employees’ frustrations. One employee said of the virtual gathering, “I know someone that walked out the other day over the article. I know someone else that left a couple of months ago. I know about eight trans people that left the organisation in the past 12 months because they don’t believe that the BBC is impartial anymore.” The BBC left a diversity initiative run by the Stonewall charity this week amid backlash over its coverage of transgender issues and identity, particularly a story about lesbians being coerced into sex by transgender women.