Ofcom er Storbritannias regulerings- og konkurransemyndighet for kommunikasjonsindustrien, herunder kommersielt fjernsyn, radio og posttjenester og ble opprettet i 2002. Men de opptrer ikke bare som en reguleringsmyndighet. Før jul i 2020 gikk Ofcoms direkter, Melanie Dawes ut og sammenlignet de som ikke aksepterte ideen om flytende kjønnsidentitet med rasister. Det skriver The Christian Institute. De skriver videre at hun mener det er:
“extremely inappropriate” for those who believe biological sex cannot be changed to be included in TV or radio debates around transgenderism.
She was responding to comments made by SNP MP John Nicolson, a former BBC presenter, who complained that by attempting to bring balance to debates, the BBC was ‘attacking’ trans people.
Stonewall
Nicolson had asked what could be done to prevent the BBC from “calling in transphobic groups like the so-called LGB Alliance to give a counter argument”.
In her response, Dame Melanie said repeatedly that Ofcom had been taking advice from pro-trans lobby group Stonewall on how to bring ‘balance’ to debates on transgenderism.
“What we’re going to try to do is engage with Stonewall who are actually really expert on this, and who’ve raised this actively with us.
“I’ve spoken to the chief executive myself – and make sure that we give the right information to our broadcasters so that they can steer their way through these debates without causing offence, and without bringing inappropriate voices to the table on questions like this.”
Racists
The quango head continued: “There have been some occasions where we have been told, and I haven’t seen the programmes myself, where in order to provide balance on trans issues, people who are opposed to the issues in principle are seen as giving balance to that debate.
“As Mr Nicolson said, we would never accept people saying that racism was OK in a debate about race. It’s about making sure that we do that balance in an appropriate way, recognising that there are a lot of views around this.”
BBC journalist John McManus questioned Ofcom’s ability to fairly regulate the BBC whilst also participating in Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index.
