Friday, April 13, 2007

Last month British newspapers covered a story about the No Outsiders project. The Daily Mail and its readers were predictably hostile to the idea of gay fairytale books being used in school.

Elizabeth Atkinson, interviewed by John Humphrys on Radio 4's Today programme, easily rebutted all the well-worn criticisms. The interview prompted a piece in the following day's Guardian: It's all over for homophobia.

I think it's a bit too soon to declare it's all over for homophobia. BBC programmes such as Life on Mars are said to be fuelling homophobic attitudes in school. The BBC excuses itself by explaining that the programme is post-watershed, aimed at an adult audience, and that they don't condone the actions of their fictional characters. But the reality is that they know many children watch after 9pm, and if they don't condone prejudiced characters why are they discriminating against lgbt people on CBBC?

CBBC tell me they are reviewing their policies, but if programmes like Newsround don't quickly shed their prejudice and become inclusive, we'll have a long while to wait before homophobia is eradicated.

Listen to interview

No comments: