By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) DEC 29 | The popular BBC news programme, BBC News At 6, is coming under heavy criticism for its prominent inclusion of a notorious Anti-Gay Christian activist in its coverage of the announcement yesterday of the birth by surrogate of a son to Sir Elton John and his husband, film-maker David Furnish.
The leading LGBTQ publication, The Pink News UK, one of Europe's largest online daily Queer news outlets questioned the BBC's decision. The paper wrote:
The same night, the BBC broadcast a report by Lizo Mzimba on the birth of the child. With the introduction “not everyone is pleased to see such a high profile same sex couple start to raise a surrogate child”, Mr Mzimba proceeded to interview Stephen Green, of right-wing group Christian Voice, without any warning that he is someone who has in the past supported the death penalty for gay men.
In an interview that was visibly edited together, Mr Green told the BBC: “This isn’t just a designer baby for Sir Elton John, this is a designer accessory… [cut] Now it seems like money can buy him anything, and so he has entered into this peculiar arrangement…[cut] The baby is a product of it. A baby needs a mother and it seems an act of pure selfishness to deprive a baby of a mother.”
Green, who has a lengthy history of homophobic remarks and anti-gay campaigning has been unfavourably compared to American Baptist Minister Fred Phelps, who is known for his picketing of U. S. military servicemembers funerals. In particular, Green's 2009 comments which supported a proposed death penalty for gay men in Uganda created a considerable uproar. Green told the British press:
“The contrast between our politicians and those of Uganda could not be more stark. A Parliamentarian in Uganda is trying to protect his nation’s children. The House of Commons of the United Kingdom is trying to corrupt ours. Which country is the more civilised, I wonder, in the eyes of Almighty God?”
The Editor In Chief of the Pink News UK, Jessica Geen opined:
The decision to include an interview with Stephen Green, someone who has previously supported the execution of gays in a story relating to a high-profile gay couple celebrating the birth of a surrogate child shows incredible insensitivity by the BBC.
She pointed out:
Given that little more than a year ago, the BBC Trust ruled that the BBC “reinforced homophobic stereotypes”, the broadcast yesterday is all the more shocking.
The BBC needs to seriously reconsider not just who it interviews for stories relating to homosexuality but also reconsider its whole approach to how it covers the lives of millions of LGBT people, who themselves have no choice but to pay the television license fee. ( Note- In the UK, anyone who watches TV on any device must have a licence. Link Here )
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1 comments:
I've always felt the BBC was one of the media 'good guys' but this has left me wondering what the hell happened to them.
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