Small but significant changes in BBC style guide around Transgender and LGBT language

[SingleSexSpacesInSchools]

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1514351367393197&id=100064550447736&post_id=100064550447736_1514351367393197&rdid=Uetbp7k194oe1RxM

"The BBC has shuffled its style guide in the right direction.
Sharp-eyed campaigner Alan Henness uncovered changes to the corporation’s guidance made in the past 24 hours.
The updated version of the reference tool, used by over 5,500 BBC journalists, contains several small but significant changes to the language used when reporting on sex and trans identities.
Perhaps most striking, where journalists were previously told “the concept of a gender identity is contested by some”, the final two words have disappeared. The guidance now states simply: “We should be aware that the concept of a gender identity is contested.”
The corporation has also added a warning that “care is needed with the use of umbrella terms”. The guidance says that, where possible, initialisms should be avoided, adding: “The issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people can be very different and the more specific we can be with our language the better.”
No changes have yet been made to the use of pronouns. The BBC advises reporters: “We generally use the pronoun preferred by the person in question, unless there are editorial reasons not to do so. If their preference is unknown, apply that which fits with the way the person lives publicly.”
These are hardly revolutionary changes. But after years in which news organisations have too often adopted the language of trans activism as though it were neutral fact, acknowledging without qualification that gender identity is a contested concept, and advising care around the use of umbrella terms, marks a welcome shift towards precision.
At the time of writing, the BBC has not reported how these changes have impacted on drag queens."

So they still lie about the sex of individuals and point to their style guide as an excuse for misleading the public?

It's certainly a small step in the right direction - but their continued use of wrong sex pronouns continues to create confusion and misleading information.

Until they go back to calling a man a man, and use the female pronouns for female people only, the changes are mere cosmetic and won't lead to them reporting on events fairly and impartially. If they can't do that then they're still a source of propaganda and misinformation.

Well, I think/hope We generally use the pronoun preferred by the person in question, unless there are editorial reasons not to do so. means that if a TIM has been arrested or charged for something they'll say 'he'.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2krdggx6xo

Story today which actually says pregnant WOMEN!

A small step for BBC-kind…

It would definitely be good if they stop gabbling ‘LGBT’ or ‘LGBTQplus’ when they’re discussing an issue specific to LGB people or to trans people.

Yes, acknowledging that L/G/B/T/+ are different groups affected by different issues is a very significant step.

@RogueFemale re the BBC reporting on the salmonella outbreak -
A couple of days ago they said "pregnant people"
Yesterday they said "those who are pregnant"
(TBH it was hard to tell if it was their own choice of words or the FSA.)
Today they finally managed to say "pregnant women" and at the top of the front page too!

Hmm, interesting. It does look as if the FSA remains captured and cannot utter the W-word (there is a short video below starring Prof Ian Young of the FSA).

"Some people are transphobic and will bombard the Complaints Department if trans people are treated with respect" ain't news hun.

PSA for all women reading this. Any man:

• obsessed with trans people (but especially trans children)
• claiming to be saving children
• who regularly equates being trans with child abuse

may as well be waving that red flag all day.

Avoid. Jesus Christ avoid these men, we know who they are. The kind who lecture you on Staying Safe while pressing a knee into your school uniform on the bus. Ugh.

We can't avoid them, they are in a toilets, changing rooms, prisons, rape centres and even on our message boards.

It wouldn’t feel right if there wasn’t at least one rambling post from TPA desperately shoehorning in an accusation of transphobia.

The FSA Facebook page is ridiculous. They veer between 'pregnant people' and 'pregnant women' from one post to the next as though they can't decide.

Seems a small step.

As for drag queens, I don't think this equates. You know they are a man dressing up as a woman, in a way similar to a pantomime dame.

One would hope.
It is a shame it doesn’t say that explicitly.

There are quite a few of the T agitating to split from the LGB now, so a win all round.

Are there? Where have you seen this, please? It's an interesting turn about, if so. Might be the "Trans+" in action.

There was a sad case of a drag queen with the stage name The Vivienne, real name James Lee Williams.

His family referred to him using the words 'brother', 'he' and 'James' - see this story on the BBC dated 22 April 2025
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y5e7y8qv0o

Yet in an earlier story dated 17 March 2025 the BBC used they/them pronouns.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd0x919q4o

In a later story dated 30 June 2025 it looks as though the Beeb is trying to defend its usage compared with that of the family.

"Williams, who went by they/them and he/him pronouns, had spoken about their addiction struggles on an episode of Ru Paul's Drag Race - which their father Lee Williams told the court was the first their family had known about it.

However, he believed his son had been successful staying sober, and their immediate family were unaware that they had relapsed.

Mr Williams told the court: "He was just an outgoing character full-of-life.

"He just wanted to give people laughs and help them on the way, and I think in a way he achieved that.""

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c628699znyno

I've noticed it a few times on X and reddit. It came up in some of the online conversations about the 'Trans Pride' marches in particular. Some of it felt like an angry rebuttal to gay men speaking out against the overt displays of fetish etc in Pride events.

If T does dump LGB and go for T+ it won't be long before they're eaten by Q+. T is a subset GI and QT is behind it all. One of the heads of the postmodern hydra, in the end it'll end up being eaten by itself in a feeding frenzy, and we'll be rid of all of the batshittery. Can't wait until that day.

I agree. The Q are simply using the T to push their political agenda. I bet some of the T rue the day that post-modernism set its beady eye on them.

Thanks for that, I hadn't seen it (not on Twix) Could be an interesting trend about to take over. As @TheywontletmehavethenameIwant says, and I agree, the Q+ seems to be on the move, including the non-binary trend, so we'll likely see some significant shifts in a couple of years, possibly an implosion of what we've known as the "usual" transgender and activist arguments and actions.

The fact that Stonewall seems to be keeping a very low profile is another indication of a shift. But, it won't be the things we see that make a difference, but the things we don't see. This is why I am glad that Sex Matters, WRN, FWS, and Nick Wallis are keeping an eye on things. (And us, of course!)

If there are not mitigating circumstances there is no reason to say he if someone is trans/drag queen etc. it’s not hurting anyone showing respect for preference BUT where it is pertinent to the story being reported then a reference to the person being transgender is appropriate - eg violent crime. This isn’t a one size fits all situation, if you haven’t done anything wrong and you identifying as a different gender to your birth gender has no bearing whatsoever on the story journalists should show respect because their gender isn’t part of the story