Keywords: UK, English, LGBT, media, discrimination, homophobia, sexism, gender, guidelines
The National Union of Journalists has launched new guidelines for reporting on LGBT for all media workers creating and handling editorial material.
“Take care when using the word “homosexual”. Outside of scientific and clinical discourse, the word has outdated and discredited connotations of psychological disorder. When discussing homosexuality and transgender issues in social contexts, the preferred and more widely accepted terms are “LGBT”, “gay”, “bisexual”, “lesbian” and “transgender””, says NUJ in its guidelines on how to report LGBT and their issues.
“As working journalists we are all on deadline to create, sub, edit and publish under huge pressure and often with little time or resources, so we certainly don’t need long, prescriptive guidelines telling us how to do our jobs. But I also know much has changed in reporting LGBT issues, terminology, use of language and phrases that it can get confusing so these are very short, clear bullet point tips and advice to help make our lives easier. I hope you find them genuinely useful,” says Mike Smith, NUJ equality council representative.