CBBC has several message boards including a bullying board and a board specifically for kids' growing up problems - Your Life

Last Friday there was a message asking for help about being gay. Usually messages about being gay or homophobic bullying are filtered out, but on that occasion it was allowed through. There were sixteen replies, but they weren't visible because they were awaiting moderation. The next day the entire "Help I'm gay" thread was removed without explanation.

The BBC seems not to want support for gay people on its CBBC message boards.

On the same board were two messages touching on issues of sexuality. Recently Eastenders has featured a lesbian affair between Sonia and Naomi. This message was posted to the "Your Life" message board -

Eastenders is good

Message 6 - posted by xxRachie_Baybeexx
Hiya i lurve Eastenders watch it all da tym i hav lots of fav bits in eastenders.Hav u been watchin it lately with sonia an niome ewwwww lol an ben phils son came bak awwww he soooo cute lol he only liccle did u c da 1 on friday wen at da end grant came bac lol tra luv rach xxxxxx my asl is 12 nearly 13/f/uk

Not a very helpful message for any lesbians reading the board.

Here's another message:

a girl likes me wat should i do

Message 1 - posted by iloverangers1, Oct 21, 2005
a girl likes me wat should i do plz tell me i am really worried

Message 3 - posted by Xx% lil-minx %xX, Oct 23, 2005
Do you mean she fancys you or just as a mate? If you are a girl.. She may just be going through a time and might need someone to lean on if you get me.. someone to talk to.. it might not mean she likes you in that way.

If you mean she likes you in a nice way not in fancy.. well why is it bad??

Please reply and i will try to help you

XxCute-ChloexX

Ok they did allow a reply which touched - rightly or wrongly - on sexual orientation. Maybe it wasn't very helpful. But if a word like "gay" or "lesbian" had been mentioned the reply would have been banned altogether. Why?

This is all about disempowerment. CBBC prevents words like "gay" being used positively. The Newsround team know that "gay" is very commonly used as an insult in primary schools, but they do nothing to help redress the balance by just reporting lgbt stories fairly.