BBC apologises for using wrong pronouns during Supreme Court gender report: ‘This was an error!’
The BBC has issued an apology for using the wrong pronouns in subtitles on a news report on the Supreme Court’s ruling on sex and biology.
The error occurred in English subtitles during a broadcast on the Welsh-language S4C on April 24.
The programme looked at how trans people’s lives would be impacted by the landmark court ruling.
After years of concerns that women’s rights are being watered down in a bid to appease trans activists, Britain’s top judges unanimously agreed that the terms “woman” and “sex” in gender legislation will only refer to a biological woman and biological sex.
The director of For Women Scotland described the courts decision was a “victory” for women.
The S4C report, which aired eight days later, explored some of the consequences of the ruling.
Pronouns associated with people’s biological birth sex rather than their trans identity were used by the BBC, in what they describe as an “error”.
The broadcaster issued an apology in which they admitted to breaking “clear and documented policy.”
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The statement read: “In a report about the recent UK Supreme Court’s ruling and how it could affect trans people’s lives some of the English subtitles that appeared on air were incorrect, resulting in the incorrect gender and pronouns being used four times.
“This was an error and we apologise.
“Red Bee, the company that supplied the subtitles, have assured us they have a clear and documented policy which is that their subtitles should always reflect the gender and pronouns that the person identifies with.
“However, they acknowledge this didn’t happen on this occasion and because of human error the translated subtitles were incorrect.”
Red Bee also apologised in the statement and “have taken immediate steps to ensure this kind of incident does not happen again”, according to the BBC.
The landmark ruling came after the dispute emerged in 2022, when For Women Scotland successfully challenged the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018 over its inclusion of trans women in its definition of women.
Speaking in the Supreme Court, Lord Hodge declared that “The terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.”
The Court of Session ruled that changing the definition in the act was unlawful, as it dealt with matters outside the Scottish Parliament’s legal competence.