Identical twins - How the BBC and the Scottish Government share significant biases

Ideological twins

In this blog, ScotPAG examines the contention that the BBC and the Scottish Government exhibit striking parallels in their biases relating to their respective institutional behaviours regarding gender identity ideology. Whilst public institutions should prioritise evidence-based policy and balanced discourse, both the BBC and the Scottish Government, influenced by activist groups such as Stonewall, LGBTYS and TIE, have suppressed dissenting voices, and have promoted uncritical affirmation of gender identity ideology. No debate and failure to listen and learn has been the modus operandi for both institutions.

As a result, Scottish public services have been profoundly undermined, particularly in education, healthcare, and prisons, thereby eroding safeguarding for vulnerable children and adults, the allocation of scarce resources, and women's rights.

Whistleblower Michael Prescott (a former advisor on the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee), described the BBC's bias as, ‘institutional capture by a pro-trans cabal'.

He detailed how a small group of LGBT activists on the BBC's LGBTQ desk censored trans-critical stories by declining coverage of issues such as: the quality of care for gender-confused children, or the harms of affirmative treatments. He described how the BBC delivered a ‘constant drip-feed’ of pro-trans narratives while ignoring major critical news items such as the disgraced World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), the leaked internal documents of which showed major negligence and cynical manipulation of patients on a massive scale.

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Gender identity beliefs were portrayed as fact rather than the un-evidenced and unproven beliefs that they are. In reporting the conviction of murderer Scarlet Blake, a biological male who identified as a ‘transgender woman’, the BBC described Blake solely as a ‘woman'. Blake’s sex was deliberately omitted. This inevitably misled and confused audiences and downplayed the significant risks that men can pose to women. Such lies were a frequent occurrence in news items reported by the BBC.

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And veteran BBC presenters faced reprimands for voicing the truth. Most recently, Martine Croxall was ruled to have breached impartiality for stating, ‘pregnant women’ instead of the diktat, ‘pregnant people’. When biological reality is deemed controversial by a public body which we are all legally bound to pay for, there really is cause for concern.

Statue of George Orwell outside BBC

Similarly, the Scottish Government has embedded gender identity ideology into policy and practice across all public services. It has ignored the warnings from numerous groups and bodies which have expressed concerns of expert professionals regarding gender identity ideology; this includes evidence provided by ScotPAG, For Women Scotland, Women’s Right Network Scotland, Scottish Union for Education, MBM, and many other organisations.

The Scottish Government’s guidance, Supporting Transgender Pupils in Schools, continues to urge affirmation of children's self-identification, including social transition without parental consent. The guidance references deeply flawed research conducted by LGBT Youth Scotland which conflates sexual orientation with gender and inflates suicide risks to justify ‘trans’ affirmation.

Despite the Cass Review's 2024 findings that such approaches lack robust evidence and may harm children’s mental health, the Scottish Government guidance remains in place and continues to advocate for the concept of the ‘trans’ child, social transition, use of pronouns, affirmation and in some cases, not involving parents.

The Scottish Government sought to impose self-ID on its citizens without suitable safeguards, and without engaging with concerned women’s groups and experts worried about safeguarding rape victims, women’s refuges, prisons and children. It forced the Gender Recognition Reform Bill (GRRB) through the Scottish Parliament and refused to listen. The GRRB was blocked only by Westminster in 2023.

Such biases in both the BBC and the Scottish Government demonstrate similar institutional behaviours: both have been influenced and duped by the same lobbyists whose ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ schemes have been invited in to ‘educate’ nearly all public bodies. These activist organisations have been allowed to embed their dogma in all institutions. This has resulted in the development of policy and practice in our public services of a counterfactual ideological orthodoxy which has encouraged the harmful denial of reality.

The BBC's LGBTQ desk mirrors the Scottish Government's reliance on activist input, sidelining experts like those behind the Cass Review. Likewise, the Scottish Government has created an echo chamber which stifles debate and leads to mainstream media such as the BBC under-reporting Scottish policy flaws. At times, BBC Scotland has completely failed to report important stories and articles that affect ordinary Scottish people, and which do not fit an affirmative narrative regarding the Scottish Government’s ideological intentions.

The repercussions for Scottish public services have been dire. In education, ideologically-driven guidance has eroded safeguarding, with schools affirming and socially transitioning pupils without an assessment of underlying issues such as autism, or taking into account a child's past history of relationship difficulties and/or trauma. Such an approach can, and has, set children on an irreversible path of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery. ScotPAG has also repeatedly warned about the potential emotional harm to children and families resulting from social contagion and influence, promoted by these policies.

Healthcare also has suffered : £4.5 million in Scottish Government funding has expanded NHS gender services, with youth clinics overwhelmed by ideologically influenced referrals while generic waiting lists balloon.

In prisons, self-ID policies continue to place transgender women (biological males) in the female estates, thereby creating safeguarding issues including psychological and physical harm to women and female prison staff.

Such ideological bias, mirrored between the BBC's monopoly and Scotland's devolved governance, has politicised public services, prioritising a minority and contested view over empirical scrutiny. By fostering policy capture, vulnerable groups including gender-questioning children, vulnerable women, and incarcerated women have been endangered and harmed.

Sanity, safety and impartiality have been significantly compromised for at least the last decade. Public trust has been undermined. Do either the BBC or the Scottish Government have the integrity, gravitas and humility to listen to critics at last?

Carolyn Brown

ScotPAG Convenor