There are no outsiders - part 2

Which side of this 'debate' is BBC Children's really on?

Well Gus wants to be a forensic scientist, so he would have to appraise all the available evidence before reaching his verdict.

Let's see what we have.

Firstly, we have what looks like quite a supportive piece of fiction, where the anti-gay argument is easily torn to shreds at almost every opportunity. Faced with this evidence alone, Gus would doubtless conclude that the BBC Children's department favours diversity and treating all people as equal.

But I don't think Gus would rely on a single piece of evidence. He'd know that the more data he can find, the more likely he'd be to arrive at the truth. So he'd have to delve a bit deeper, and it wouldn't take Gus long find out that Newsround Blog is an excellent resource to help with his research.

Take, for instance, the quote shown on the 2nd January 2013 blog post. The second paragraph begins "It has given us continued confidence to ..."

A forensic expert like Gus would check the facts. Anything he wasn't sure about he'd set out in his notebook and try to find out the answers. He might well contact BBC Children's to ask for a bit of help.

If it then turned out that the only supposedly gay-inclusive programme BBC Children's could come up with to support their claim of "continued confidence" was actually made about four years ago - and it did not, in fact, include anything recognisable as LGB portrayal - Gus might then start to have serious doubts over their intentions.

Gus would almost certainly conclude that BBC Children's has endemically treated some people as outsiders, though of course he could not be certain that things are not changing for the better. But his trusted source of up-to-date information and data would give him very little cause for optimism.