On 26 October 2021, BBC News published an article by Caroline Lowbridge claiming
that lesbians are ‘being pressured into sex with trans women’, painting a worrying picture of
transgender women being predatory and dangerous [1].
International human rights law is supposed to help prevent such discriminatory statements [2].
So why was a mainstream media outlet like the BBC allowed to publish such materials in the
deadliest year for transgender people since records began? [3] The defence given by those in
support of the article is the right to freedom of expression allowing a variety of views [4].
Therefore, it becomes a precarious balancing act between preventing censorship and the right
not to have your identity discriminated against on the public news.
In the UK, freedom of expression is essential to our democracy. However, this is not an
absolute right. Where there is an entanglement of competing rights, this can justify limitation
in order to protect the other rights involved [5]. However, the legal definition of discrimination
is where somebody is treated less favourably because of a ‘protected characteristic’ (e.g
gender). It is unclear whether Lowbridge’s accusatory statements and cruel words are enough
to legally constitute discrimination [6]. This means that this is likely to be a question of i
interpretation.
As views on gender and gender-based discrimination in the UK continue to change, the law
should reflect this change and protect marginalised groups by taking more action to prevent
offensive and discriminatory articles rather than leaving this important issue up for debate.
[1] Caroline Lowbridge, ‘We’re Being Pressured Into Sex By Some Trans Women’ (BBC News, 26
October 2021) <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-57853385> accessed 27
November 2021.
[2] European Convention on Human Rights, art 14; Human Rights Act 1998, sch 1, art 14; Equality Act 2010, ss 7, 11.
[3] Trans Respect Versus Transphobia, ‘TMM Update TDoR 2021’ (11 November 2021)
<https://transrespect.org/en/tmm-update-tdor-2021/> accessed 27 November 2021.
[4] Jim Waterson, ‘BBC Rejects Complaints that it Published Transphobic Article’ (The Guardian,
1 November 2021) <https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/nov/01/bbc-rejects-complaints-that-it-published-transphobic-article> accessed 27 November 2021.
[5] European Convention on Human Rights, art 10(2); Andrew Nicol, Media Law and Human Rights (2nd edn, OUP 2009).
[6] Equality Act 2010, s 13(1).
