Big Brother UK housemates' trans rights debate draws viewer backlash

Left · 1Viewers criticised contestants on Big Brother UK after the show aired a tense debate about transgender rights, pronouns, single-sex bathrooms and trans athletes in sport, in an episode broadcast on a Sunday night. 1 Mixed · 2The discussion began after Twinks Burnett, 36, one of two new contestants who joined the house that night, started a conversation about LGBTQIA+ allyship and gender identity. 1 2 Mixed · 2Housemate Philip Regan, 53, who is gay, said he supported freedom of speech and that his generation grew up with gendered pronouns, adding: "If you want to be classed as a fridge, you're classed as a fridge." 1 2

Left · 1Burnett replied that it was "no one else's business to tell you who you are, what your sexuality is" and that people should not assume who anyone is until they say. 1 Mixed · 2On whether transgender women should use women's washrooms, housemate Rochelle Rackham said she "wouldn't be happy with a transgender in the toilet with me", and Regan responded, "I know what you mean". 1 2 Mixed · 2Burnett said building community was the most important step in bridging differences, and the talk moved on to trans athletes and allyship. Microphones later picked up Regan telling another housemate that Burnett was trying to "cause trouble" by raising transgender protections. 1 2

Mixed · 2On social media, many users called on ITV to reprimand Rackham and Regan, accused them of transphobia and questioned why the conversation was aired. Digital Spy reports that Regan was branded "insensitive" and that Rackham came under fire for her bathroom comment. 1 2 Left · 1Other fans defended the broadcast, saying the franchise has always aimed to capture raw, unscripted interactions and that removing the exchange would have been censorship; some on the show's Instagram account praised Burnett for starting the conversation. 1 Centre · 1Kate Lawler, a former Big Brother contestant who hosts the spin-off Big Brother: The Group Chat with GK Barry, told Attitude at the Attitude Awards that she was "disappointed" with Regan as an openly gay contestant. She urged Rackham to think about trans people who had to use public toilets while transitioning, citing a trans friend, and praised Burnett for "flying the flag" for the trans community. 2

Left · 1CBC placed the episode in the context of Britain's polarised debate on trans issues, noting last year's UK Supreme Court ruling that the legal definition of "woman" for anti-discrimination purposes applies only to those assigned female at birth, and the later ban on trans women in women's football teams in England. It also noted that a contestant in the show's previous season received a formal warning from producers for misgendering a housemate. 1