The BBC has amended an article which featured interviews with lesbians who said they have been pressured into having sex with trans women following the “inappropriate behaviour” of a contributor.
The broadcaster has defended the piece, which was published last week with the headline We’re being pressured into sex by some trans women, following complaints it was “transphobic and poorly evidenced”.
However on Thursday the broadcaster said the article has been edited to remove the quotes of an individual “in light of comments she has published on blog posts in recent days, which we have been able to verify”.
The statement, published on the complaints section of the BBC website, added: “We acknowledge that an admission of inappropriate behaviour by the same contributor should have been included in the original article.”
A spokesman for the BBC said: “This is an important piece of journalism that raises issues that should be discussed.
“We have updated this article, published last week, to remove a contribution from one individual in light of comments she has published on blog posts in recent days, which we have now been able to verify.
“We acknowledge that an admission of inappropriate behaviour by the same contributor should have been included in the original article.”
The piece, published last week, questioned whether a lesbian is “transphobic if she does not want to have sex with trans women”.
It also included comments from a number of lesbians who said they have been criticised for not wanting to have sex with trans women, including one who said they “had someone saying they would rather kill me than Hitler”.
The BBC was previously sent an open letter criticising the article by campaign group Trans Activism UK, which was signed by more than 20,000 people.
It criticised the piece for including a social media survey of 80 lesbians, of which 56% said they had been pressured or coerced to accept a trans woman as a sexual partner.
The letter said the article “dangerously frames” lesbians being pressured into sex “as a widespread issue”.