Stonewall blasts BBC over 'caveman' attitudes to gays and lesbians

by Suzanne Bidlake, Brand Republic 01-Mar-06, 11:00

LONDON - Campaigning group Stonewall has slammed the BBC for its portrayal of gay people on its flagship channels and attacked programmes such as Anne Robinson's 'The Weakest Link' and 'The Lenny Henry Show'.

Gay people, who at 6% of the adult population contribute £190m to the BBC in licence fees, are practically "invisible" on primetime BBC One and BBC Two, according to the lobby group.

In addition, most references are negative, stereotypical or jokey, and there is almost no evidence of the BBC challenging homophobia when it arises, it says. This despite BBC guidelines requiring staff to avoid "offensive or stereotypical assumptions". It singled out presenters such as Jeremy Clarkson and Anne Robinson for particular criticism.

Stonewall is challenging the BBC at a time when it is seeking renewal of its Royal Charter to undertake eight recommendations. These include balanced and unsensational coverage in news and current affairs, authentic gay characters in drama and the inclusion of 6% of gay contestants in game shows.

Just 38 minutes of 168 hours of primetime BBC TV monitored by Stonewall and researchers from Leeds University for the 'Tuned Out' report featured homosexual people's lives. Only six minutes of that amounted to what the group considered to be realistic portrayals.

Programmes such as 'The Weakest Link' and 'The Lenny Henry Show' are among those which the campaigners found made offensive references to gay people.

Focus groups respondents in the research also hit out at the BBC for lagging behind other broadcasters, such as Channel 4, branding the organisation "a caveman".

The BBC claims the study focused only on a narrow timeslot (7pm-10pm) and excluded nearly all news and current affairs output.

The corporation said: "We are committed to finding ways of reflecting the audience's daily lives in our programmes, but we feel the notion that gay men and lesbians only receive value for money from the licence fee through seeing direct representation of gay life is misconceived.

"Gay men and lesbians do, of course, enjoy our output across the board."

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