This is what Anita Rani said:
I’m disgusted by the levels of transphobia on here.
@BBCWomansHour
is a space to discuss everything including LGBTQ+ issues. Listening to people’s stories helps us understand something and hopefully empathise. Ditch the hate
This is the response I got to my complaint - don't know if it chimes with the stock response everyone else got:
Anita was responding to the tone of some of the replies on Twitter following Friday’s episode of Woman's Hour. Her tweet called for respect and empathy, rather than taking one viewpoint or another on the issues involved.
It did not take a position on any matters of public policy, for example – seeking instead to stress the value of listening to others. We believe that was in line with the values expected of Woman's Hour and the BBC as a whole.
It remains important for us to understand how these issues are regarded by our audience all the same, so we’ve reflected on your reactions here as a programme team. Feedback from listeners can always inform our understanding of how things come across to others.
Rani's tweet definitely did cross the line. Unless you have been asleep these past few years, what constitutes "transphobia" and the conflict between freedom of speech and accusations of so-called "transphobia" are matters of public policy, from the police arbitrarily making up their own hate speech offences, to the Scottish Parliament enshrining it in law. She could have made her point without the line I’m disgusted by the levels of transphobia on here. It's not your place as a BBC journalist to be disgusted, Anita Rani. It's not your place as a BBC journalist to decide what is transphobia, outside the application of a settled/legal definition of the same. It's certainly not your place to apply a broad brush shutdown of women objecting to an interviewee who has displayed the sort of antiquated love of objectification that the programme has been decrying for years.
Their response also did not address why Jenni Murray was suspended, and why Rani is not being. Nor why the gratuitous racism in Paris Lees book was ignored.