Rugby League bans transgender athletes from top events

Congratulations on getting the changed.

Thank you👏🏻

Cynical me is thinking the "helpful" is how much do "we" need to change the content to avoid a stage 2 complaint.

Nice to see the word woman in the headline used properly (I.e does not include transwomen).

Now we have some clear examples, I wonder in what other ways transwomen are not women?

Response to follow-up complaint:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us again.

We’re sorry to learn that you weren’t satisfied with our earlier response, and we can see why.

Firstly, we'd also like to apologise for the delay in getting back in touch with you. We know our audiences appreciate a prompt response and we’re sorry this hasn't been the case on this occasion.

In light of your further comments, we’ve now changed the headline of the article to the following:

‘Transgender women banned from women's international rugby league’

We’ve also edited the introduction to the piece, making clear that ‘Transgender women have been banned from women's internationals while rugby league's governing body does further research on its inclusion policy’.

We’d like to thank you for your feedback on these points and apologise that this was not made clear originally. Your comments have been discussed with the team at the Sport website, and have prompted a helpful discussion about the language we use across our output.

This concludes Stage 1 of our complaints process. That means we can’t correspond with you further here. If you remain unhappy, you can now contact the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU). The ECU is Stage 2 of the BBC’s complaints process. You’ll need to explain why you think there’s a potential breach of standards, or if the issue is significant and should still be investigated. Please do so within 20 working days of this reply.

It's taken a month to get from a completely inaccurate headline via a second, still inaccurate version to this version, which finally approximates to the wording in the original press release. It could be better but I guess it'll do.

Apparently, my comments "have been discussed with the team at the Sport website, and have prompted a helpful discussion about the language we use across our output."

It would be nice to know something about the content and consequences of that discussion. I assume the discussion had some significant consequences - if not, in what sense was it "helpful"?

Ditto. Excellent follow. Will consider doing similar

great follow up. thank you for persisting.

Follow-up complaint submitted:

Thank you for your response to the above complaint. Unfortunately, the amended headline is still misleading as it refers to "transgender players" being banned, while in fact it is only transwoman players, i.e. males, who are banned from women's international competition. The article itself also refers repeatedly (and misleadingly) to "transgender players" (although a direct quote from the IRL does specify "male-to-female (transwomen) players"). Additionally, the article devotes a great deal more space to criticism of the ban than it gives to justification and support for it. This imbalance, combined with the misleading headline give a clear impression of bias in the article. I understand that headlines require brevity and this may be at the expense of nuance, but a reference to "transwoman players" or even just "male players" would be shorter, clearer and more accurate than "transgender players". I cannot think of any good reason, other than deliberate bias, for persisting with such a misleading presentation, even after complaints have been received and considered.

Saying trans people can't play sport is deliberate. And not specifying that it's males who can't play female sport is also deliberate. Whether every instance is deliberate, or simply ignorant, who knows.

But the entire meaning changes when one says men instead of people.

We note that the author of this email has presumed that sport + transgender = male

Simple clear demonstration of sex based bias.

So how many genocides is this now?

The article links to a press release which includes this paragraph:
Until further research is completed to enable the IRL to implement a formal transgender inclusion policy, male-to-female (transwomen) players are unable to play in sanctioned women’s international rugby league matches.
Which is clear enough, so I struggle to see how the BBC keep getting it wrong, unless it is deliberate.

Yes not 100% correct but a small step in the right direction.

Still not right.. because transmen would be welcome assuming they are not doping on testosterone..

@mrshoho i think I got exactly the same letter. Should really say trans women not transgender but it’s better

Or just "male people banned from women's rugby league".

Actually still an incorrect title. The title should read male transgender people banned from women's International league.

I received a nice reply from the BBC acknowledging their originally misleading headline.

^Many thanks for contacting us about our report covering news that transgender players have been banned from women's rugby league internationals (www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/61875651).^

While the scope of the ban has been made clear throughout the article, we do agree that the initial headline of the piece could have been clearer in informing readers that the ban only applied to women’s internationals. As such, we’ve updated the headline of the piece to the following:

‘Transgender players banned from women's international rugby league’

We’re confident the article itself accurately and impartially informs readers of the news, reflecting a range of views both in favour and against the move.

We would like to thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with us, which we’ve discussed with the appropriate teams. This helps inform decisions about current and future content.

All the best,

BBC Complaints Team
^www.bbc.co.uk/complaints^

So unbelievably obvious why this is wrong

www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/watch-transgender-rugby-player-slams-female-athletes-coach-says-three-injured?_amp=true

Did anyone see that article in April where 3 high school girls were injured by one trans player in a rugby (union?) match in Guam. Understandably the coach was livid. Safety and fairness should be a priority in all sports.

Exactly.

And what a truly inclusive image that would be. The sport would have superb ambassadors for a shift away from the usual culture.

Killing myself laughing. Not.
You start to wonder what planet these people are on.

If any of you and your family are involved with sport in any way NOW is the time to write to them. We’re pushing at an open door here.

Need English Rugby (union) to follow suit now - so far they have not as far as I am aware. How they can ignore the safety
aspects is beyond understanding

That Twitter video of a girl running rugby-style into a boy and rebounding off him to the ground horrifically really brings it home how dangerous it is.

Nobody would advocate to start mixed sex rugby teams. But trans clouds things.

Sport is a real visual demonstration of the developmental differences between the sexes.

I note that the TRA have changed from TWAW to transgender female.
How handy, it helps hide the disadvantaged females taking drugs thus baring them from sports; within the group of males taking drugs yet insisting that they get to dictate the competitions classification policy.