Veteran broadcaster John Humphrys has hit out at the BBC for adopting a sympathetic approach to transgender issues, rather than being “entirely detached” and neutral.
The former BBC Radio 4 presenter retired last month, and says he now feels able to speak freely.
Speaking to The Times and The Sunday Times, he said the corporation’s ‘institutional liberal bias’ stemmed from the fact that most BBC bosses attended universities with “lecturers and professors who are on the left of politics”.
Male and female
He said: “If you take something like transgender, their mindset is such that we must kind of accept what the prevailing view is”, but that their idea of the prevailing view is often wide of the mark.
“I happen to believe, personally, that there are not an unlimited number of genders. I believe we are born men and women.”
He was sympathetic to those who feel they were “born in the wrong body”, and said that those people “must be helped”.
“there are not an unlimited number of genders”John Humphrys
‘Uneasy’
But he continued: “I feel slightly worried when large numbers of children are being told, ‘You think you might be a girl or you think you might be a boy? We’ll go and get you medical attention.’
“I’m uneasy about that and I’m uneasy about children being told in schools there are more than 100 different genders and it’s possible for someone to change gender overnight.
“I’m worried about where it’s heading.”