PRESS RELEASE: Transsexual people tell BBC "stop the lies"
| Issued : | Sunday 29th February, 2004 |
| Embargo : | Immediate |
| More info : | See http://www.pfc.org.uk/ and the contacts below |
Leaders of Press For Change, the UK’s campaign for civil rights for transsexual people, today called on the BBC to stop broadcasting lies about legislation to recognise transsexual people in their new gender.
Today, both BBC Radio News and BBC News Online are prominently running a story about conservative Anglicans who oppose the Gender Recognition Bill.
Claire McNab, vice-president of Press For Change, said:
“A story based on a lie is being repeated on every BBC news bulletin, and is on the front page of the BBC News website.”
The BBC reports on its website that unnamed clergy claim that the Gender Recognition Bill “effectively forces the Church to marry people of the same sex”.
This is untrue: the bill offers a clear conscience clause, allowing prejudiced clergy the freedom to refuse to marry transsexual people. Without the consent of clergy, there can be no church marriage.
Despite repeated requests from Press For Change, the BBC has also refused to balance the clergy’s attack on the bill with any response from parliamentary supporters of the bill or from transsexual people themselves.
Claire McNab added
“Unchecked facts and unbalanced reporting cost the BBC’s Director-General his job. What does it take to make the BBC clean up its act, and get back to accurate, unbiased news reporting?
“Transsexual people were viciously attacked in the House of Lords by peers who wanted us banned from church worship. The BBC is acting as an uncritical mouthpiece for a campaign of hatred and lies.”
Information
The BBC News story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3281777.stm (text reproduced below)
Contacts
| Press for Change Web Site | http://www.pfc.org.uk/ |
| Claire McNab | Vice President, Press for Change Email: editor@pfc.org.uk Tel: 01274 - 424 500 |
| Christine Burns | Member of the Parliamentary Forum on Transsexualism Email: c_burns@btinternet.com |
BBC NEWS Story
Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/3496806.stm
Published: 2004/02/29 01:01:32 GMT
Sex-change weddings upset clergy
Some Anglican priests are threatening to resign if they are forced to allow people who have changed their sex to marry in their churches.
Many clergy do not accept that people can change sex using surgery, and see such weddings as same sex marriages.
However, under the Gender Recognition Bill, soon to become law, clergy in England and Wales will be unable to prevent their churchesbeing used.
A clause will allow clergy to refuse to carry out the weddings themselves.
Traditionalist Anglicans claim the law effectively forces the Church to marry people of the same sex.
Some clergy say they would rather resign their posts than allow their churches to be used.
The law has been welcomed by some liberal Anglicans, but traditionalists fear it could establish a precedent that paves the way for same-sex blessings, or even marriages.
Anglican vicars - whose role includes being a registrar of marriage — are generally obliged to marry couples who want a church wedding, but many would be inclined to refuse those who have changed sex.
However, under the legislation people who have sex-change surgery — or who convince a qualified person that their body does not represent their true gender - gain the right to have their new sex recognised.
© BBC MMIV
