The BBC published, redacted and then re-published with a clarification a comment which infers that gay men are transphobic for not wanting to date men who are transgender.
In a piece written by Shrai Popat called “The black transgender push to keep the fight alive at pride”, first published on the 26th June, a statement, without citation was published, which read,
“And this discrimination also extends to transphobic preferences in the world, from cisgender gay men not wanting to date trans men and the routine fetishisation of trans women”.
In the original article, the comment was not added as a quote, so either seemed to be a statement of fact or the opinion of the BBC journalist who wrote the piece.
It now reads,
“And this discrimination also extends to the dating world, according to York. They cite cisgender gay men not wanting to date trans men and the routine fetishisation of trans women, as examples of “transphobic dating preferences.”
The clarification in the next paragraph adds an explanation from GLAAD .
“Many would disagree that such dating preferences can be described as transphobic, and say same-sex attraction is not related to gender. When asked for their view on these dating issues, leading LGBT advocacy group GLAAD told the BBC that they echo the “leading advocacy, medical, political, and psychological organizations that assert trans women are women”.
THEGAYUK reached out to Glaad for further clarification on its statement.
No clarification until today
The article was criticised by some on social media and the paragraph was amended omitting that paragraph on the BBC website. However, no signifier or clarification was left on the page to show that the original piece had been edited.
THEGAYUK reached out for comment to the BBC to ask if the stance was editorial policy or whether it was normal practice to amend piece without clarification.
Today the BBC told us,
“Clarification and update 6th July 2020: An earlier version of this article cited cisgender gay men not wanting to date trans men as an example of transphobic preferences in the dating world. However some readers took this to be a statement of fact, rather than the view of Asanni York, and so these comments were removed. They have since been re-added, in context, along with some additional reaction from LGBT advocacy group GLAAD.“
The article now reads with the statement that gay men are transphobic for not wanting to date trans men as being a quote from Asanni York, the founder of For The Gworls – a black trans collective that raises money for gender-affirming surgery and living costs.
