Newsround's report of the John Terry trial outcome misled their intended audience.

According to a live report on Friday afternoon, John Terry had told the court that he was only repeating words that he thought he had already heard, and the judge agreed. The Chief Magistrate acquitted, but not because he thought Terry was telling the truth - he didn't. In fact the magistrate, Howard Riddle, said that "Mr Terry's explanation is, certainly under the cold light of forensic examination, unlikely." Mr Riddle also concurred with the prosecution that Anton Ferdinand had been "brave" to give evidence.

This legal case has highlighted the issue of racism in football. Anton's brother, Rio Ferdinand, has been in the forefront of the fight against racism and bullying, though he has been accused of prejudice himself. Some years ago Rio used a homophobic word on Radio 1, and more recently he's been criticised by some for endorsing a race-related term about Ashley Cole - a defence witness in the John Terry trial.

Footballers are often seen as role models. Perhaps they would deserve this accolade more if they stood together to condemn all prejudice-based language, including homophobic language. Had football players like Rio Ferdinand and David Beckham been willing to speak out, it's unlikely this unfortunate case would have arisen.

New spaceship for ordinary people (Sept 2006)

First look at tourist spaceship (Jan 2008)

First look at space trip jet (July 2008)

Passenger space rocket unveiled (Dec 2009)

World's first commercial spaceport christened (Oct 2011)

Space tourism one step closer (July 2012)

Regular Newsround viewers will be familiar with Richard Branson's plans for space tourism. But few will know what the famous British entrepreneur thinks about marriage equality.


Richard Branson talks about marriage equality

After many years of systematic dumbing down children's TV, it looks like BBC senior management has finally woken up to the potential consequences. Speaking at the Stonewall Education for All conference last Thursday, Director-General, Mark Thompson, acknowledged that the Corporation was in danger of seeming to be out of touch or irrelevant. (see previous blog)

The DG identified 'gay marriage' as a topic which needs to be addressed on services for young people. Newsround has never reported on homophobia and discrimination issues which affect gay people.

Mark Thompson said the BBC's commitment to portray lesbian, gay and bisexual life in this country was not an afterthought, but a central concern.

But even as the BBC Director-General was speaking, another conference was underway in Sheffield - the Children's Media Conference 2012. And amongst the delegates was Joe Godwin, the BBC's Director of children's services. He seems to be well on target for achieving a record number of worldwide media conference attendances.

CBBC and CBeebies are listed as Children's Media Conference Foundation Sponsors. Most of the sessions, as usual for media events, were devoted to business opportunities and networking rather than ideological and ethical issues around programme making.

The important topic of child safety was discussed, and Professor Jackie Marsh, Head of the University of Sheffield School of Education, talked about complexities around 'sexualisation,' and the lack of attention to issues such as homophobia and violence against girls. Hopefully session time will be allocated to these topics at media conferences in future.

The BBC does not have a good record on LGBT diversity, so it was quite a pleasant change to see outgoing Director-General, Mark Thompson, take the time to present a speech to Stonewall's 'Education for All' conference on Thursday.

The quotes in this blog are taken from Mark Thompson's final draft, as supplied by the BBC.

Mark began his speech with some remarks about DG-elect, George Entwistle, whom he described as an outstanding journalist and programme-maker, a great creative leader and a brilliant choice for the job. Mark Thompson wanted people to know that he's discussed his speech with Mr Entwistle, and so was speaking on behalf of the future BBC leadership as well as his own. George Entwistle was, said Mr Thompson, "every bit as committed."

The DG spoke about the BBC’s duty to take lesbian, gay and bisexual people as seriously as any other part of its audience, and "to portray them and convey their experiences and perspectives with as much conviction and fairness as we would anyone else." He added "we have an obligation to serve every section of society fairly and impartially and sensitively."

The BBC must now meet this challenge more energetically and urgently than it has in the past, said Mr Thompson, paying tribute to those who take the BBC to task for its shortcomings.

Mark Thompson: "A broader sense of justice and fairness is more prevalent today in the UK than ever before. And the BBC’s handling of all minorities - and certainly of lesbians, gays and bisexuals - is an important moral marker for much of our wider audience too."

Younger viewers, said Mr Thompson, are particularly sensitive to "anything which looks like less than fair and equal treatment" of minorities. If the BBC failed to serve any significant section of British society "it will start to look out of touch, and ultimately irrelevant."

Mark Thompson: " ..it’s a striking fact that in 2012 we are living in a country where a coalition government led by a Conservative Prime Minister is leading the charge on the case for instituting gay marriage. If the BBC wants to keep up – especially with its younger audiences, but also with its audience as a whole – it needs to address the topic."

Much of the rest of Mr Thompson's speech was devoted to the findings of the BBC LGB consultation in 2010, and to how well the corporation is doing. He ended with a commitment to portray lesbian, gay and bisexual life in this country in all its own diversity and richness which, said the Director-General, would be a "central concern" rather than just an afterthought.

Today is the centenary of the birth of Alan Turing.

Breaking the Code is an excellent BBC dramatisation of his life and work, made in 1996. Good performance by Derek Jacobi, though he was a little too old to portray the wartime Turing.





Alan Turing: Colleagues share their memories

With all the romance on CBBC in mind - you know programmes like Wingin' It - Newsround Blog readers might be interested in an email I wrote to the Director of Children's, Joe Godwin, at the start of last year (10th January 2011) -

Hi Joe,

Many thanks for your email at the weekend.

I'm pleased you asked about my Alan Turing drama idea. And yes, I was thinking of a dramatisation of Turing's life for children's TV. I watched the remake of Just William over the holiday period, and noticed that romance and relationships were quite prominent. We see William's brother and sister dating, and William's teacher saying that "our society is founded on a man and a woman wanting to be together." By the fourth episode William's antipathy towards girls has gone, and he wants to be friends with Dorinda.

Of course kids have crushes at the age of 11, or sometimes at an earlier age. CBBC recognised that fact with programmes like Eliot Kid and Little Howard's Big Question, but I doubt that those stories turned any gay children straight. Using the same reasoning, a children's drama about an LGB person is not going to alter the sexual orientation of straight kids. However making children's TV inclusive is likely to encourage tolerance, as was recognised in past storylines in CBBC programmes such as Byker Grove and Grange Hill.

Alan Turing is an apposite subject for a British children's drama for 2012, which is the centenary of his birth and the year of the London Olympics. Alan was a top class runner as well as mathematician, codebreaker, gay rights pioneer and a senior figure in the development of the computer. He succumbed to the prejudices of a bygone age.

Turing's teenage crush on Christopher Morcom was no different to, say, six-year-old Eliot Kid's crush on Loretta or Little Howard's feelings towards Little Susan. And if the BBC is to represent everyone, with no group underserved, it needs to deliver for LGBT children and teenagers. What better luminary could there be for the CBBC to celebrate in 2012?

I've had a few (sketchy) ideas for a dramatisation, and I suspect that Andrew Hodges would be happy to act as a consultant if you want to take the project further as I hope you will.

If you've been keeping up with my blog, you'll know that I also had an idea for MOTD Kickabout next month.

Best wishes,

Joe wrote back on 24th January 2011, mentioning the move to Manchester, the Sadie J controversy on Digital Spy forums and Ballet Boys episode from the My Life documentary series. There was no mention of my idea re: Alan Turing.

This partly eaten apple with inscription "In the memory of a genius" is taken from a Newsround report last October.


What does the apple have to do with the world of computers?

For those who don't know, codebreaker, computer pioneer and all-round genius Alan Turing was a victim of homophobic laws in 50's Britain. He committed suicide in 1954 by eating an apple laced with cyanide.

But if you thought the picture was from a report about Alan Turing, you were mistaken. In fact it was from a report about the death of Steve Jobs. Over the last year or so, Newsround has had quite a lot to say about Steve Jobs and his achievements. In this report we can see Steve sculptured in sand.

Alan Turing should be a household name. So will CBBC be doing anything to help ensure that young people know about his life and work? His centenary is only a matter of days away, so we'll soon have an answer. The smart money is on there being no mention of Turing.

Free speech and censorship

When 9-year-old Martha Payne was told she could no longer take photographs of school dinners for her Never Seconds blog, it didnt't take long for people to sit up and take notice. What right did Argyll and Bute Council have to ban Martha from just taking a few photos at lunch time?

Within hours the Council relented and Martha was told that she could, after all, take the pictures needed for her blog.

A similar free speech U-turn took place in America last week after 10-year-old Kameron Slade won a competition in his class. As a winner Kameron was entitled to make a speech to the whole school, but when the school found out that he intended to present a speech in favour of marriage equality, the principal made clear that Kameron needed to either change the topic or be removed from the contest.

As with Martha Payne, there was a backlash against the ban, and as a result the authorities have said Kameron will, after all, be allowed to speak on his topic of choice. He will deliver his speech on marriage equality at a school assembly tomorrow.

Whereas the school dinner blog U-turn was reported by Newsround on Friday afternoon's TV bulletins, I think it's a very safe bet that there won't be a report about the other U-turn any time soon. Kids who watch CBBC might suspect that their news and entertainment programmes are being unreasonably censored by BBC bosses. So for the benefit of kids in the UK, this is what Kameron will say to his school:

Iain Stewart MP talking about his own experiences of homophobic bullying and about the need to do more to combat homophobia. From a debate this afternoon in Westminster Hall

Prime Minister David Cameron has said that he wants forced marriage to be made illegal. It was the main news item on Newsround at 3.25pm yesterday afternoon. Fiona Dwyer of Women's Aid talked to Nel about the issues involved.

Transcript

Nel: Fiona Dwyer works for Women's Aid which supports people who are affected by forced marriages. Fiona, thank you for joining us. I want to first know: what is the difference between a 'forced marriage' and an 'arranged marriage'?

Fiona: Well with an arranged marriage it's where your parents or your relatives think that they've found someone who would be perfect for you to marry, and then you meet this person and you think "Oh great," and you want to get married. Whereas a forced marriage is where your parents or your family - they bully you either physically or emotionally - and force you into getting married. So the main difference between the two is you have a choice with an arranged marriage.

Nel: Whereas a forced marriage you just don't have that choice. And what are the laws that are going to be coming in next year? Will they offer more protection for victims of forced marriages?

Fiona: Well they should do, but - and we are very happy that the Government is against forced marriages - but we're also worried that because so many people don't tell at the moment, that even more people won't, because they're afraid that their families will go to prison.

Nel: So you're worried, as other charities are as well, that because the laws are stricter that it will mean that less victims come forward?

Fiona: Yes, there is a worry that many more young people - they won't tell because they're worried that their families will get into trouble with the police.

Nel: OK. And what should someone do if they think that their friend or someone they know is being forced into a marriage?

Fiona: Well, if they're worried they should contact the police, or they should contact a helpline like the NSPCC, or they should talk to one of their teachers - but also letting them know that they shouldn't tell the family.

Nel: But no matter what they should talk to somebody?

Fiona: They should definitely talk to someone. That's the most important way to get support.

Nel: OK, Fiona, thank you so much for joining me today.

BBC Director of Children's, Joe Godwin, will shortly jet off to the Banff World Media Festival. He's scheduled to appear at a session on Tuesday afternoon - Top Kids Broadcasters: Open For Business.

Of course, this won't be Mr Godwin's first visit to a media festival.

Taking a look at the breathtaking views in Banff, it comes as no surprise that the Director of Children's thinks he's got the best job in the world.

Whether Joe Godwin's excursions are value for the public's money is still unclear, despite a Freedom of Information enquiry last year. Also unclear is how British kids benefit from Mr Godwin's visits to all these mediafests.

One thing we do know is that, so far, the media sector has proved deeply averse to genuine equality. A diverse-friendly BBC would undoubtedly help in the fight against homophobia and homophobic bullying. An unfortunate and shameful missed opportunity came in a session about heroes and superheroes at last year's Kidscreen Summit, where the idea of having a gay hero/superhero was never even mentioned. And later that year BBC children's TV broadcast a series about the young Leonardo da Vinci, in which Leonardo's romantic proclivities were misrepresented to bolster heteronormativity.

There are, however, some positive signs on the horizon.

DC Comics has just confirmed that one of their superheroes, the Green Lantern, is gay. The media/showbiz industry is thought by many as supportive of LGBT people and issues, but with a small number of exceptions, as this blog has mentioned more than once before, that couldn't be further from the truth.

A few celebrities have come out in favour of equality, but most haven't. For example, Jonathan Ross: we know he has a history of mocking gay men, and that he's content for The Sun to taunt Roy Hodgson about rhotacism, but what does he think about marriage equality? With a lesbian daughter you'd think he would want to speak out in favour of that issue.

And despite being a huge comic fan - Jonathan likes to visit Comic Con in the USA - he's still yet to comment on DC Comics' Green Lantern. It's not as if he hasn't been asked.

Original Green Lantern from 1940

Gareth Malone, conductor of Military Wives' chart topper Wherever You Are has told Radio Times about the homophobia he's encountered in life.

Although Gareth Malone hasn't exactly been secretive about his personal life - he has a wife and child - Malone was dismayed that his media career brought back memories of school bullying.

Gareth Malone: “It was slightly disappointing to find that after leaving school and leaving all that behind me from the age of about 15 to 30 and then coming into television and discovering, ‘Oh, right, everyone is just as juvenile as the kids at school were” 

Without wishing to endorse violence, slightly-built Malone nevertheless feels that he should have 'lamped' the school bullies: ".. looking back I kind of wish I had."

Asked if he was offended by the assumption that he is gay, Malone replied: “I've sort of got used to it. I suppose if I took the time to really think about it, I’d like to say, ‘It’s my business and I'm married for a start’, but not really. Really, that’s one demon I’ve exorcised.”

Newsround's website today: MPs have called for body image lessons to be taught in schools. It is the main cause of bullying in schools.

Racism has been in the news again, with a BBC investigation finding that almost 88,000 incidents in UK schools were recorded between 2007 and 2011. Wednesday's Newsround included a recorded interview with 14 year old Khadeja, who found it hard to get through each day.

Ore told viewers that work is being done to stamp out racism in schools. Classes all over the country are being visited by campaigners who teach them how to avoid racist behaviour and comments.

Laura Pidcock, from Show Racism the Red Card said that "if something is based on skin colour, religion, nationality or way of life, then that is racism." Laura, who self-identifies as a feminist, failed to say whether she would also include prejudice relating to sexual orientation - homophobia. Show Racism the Red Card's  FAQ doesn't (at the time of writing) refer to homophobia, though there is now a brief section about the topic on SRTRC's website.

Stonewall's 7th Annual Education for All Conference 2012 takes place at the start of July. As far as I'm aware Newsround has never reported on homophobic bullying, but this year BBC Director-General is one of the speakers at Stonewall's conference. Stonewall says that a major new report about homophobia in Britain’s schools will be released at the event.

On 3rd April 2012 I submitted a Freedom of Information request to the BBC. This is the BBC's response (received 17th May 2012) to a question about BBC Director-General Mark Thompson's meetings with Members of Parliament.


Freedom of Information Act 2000 – RFI20120369

Part 1 of your request
Please find listed below details of meetings and phone calls which Mark Thompson, Director-General of the BBC, has had with MP’s over the last 18 months.


01/11/2010  Meeting with Ivan Lewis MP
03/11/2010  Meeting with Frank Field MP & Lord Sainsbury
04/11/2010  Telephone call with Jeremy Hunt MP
30/11/2010  Meeting with Ivan Lewis MP & Ian Murray MP
09/12/2010  Meeting with Jeremy Hunt MP
14/12/2010  Meeting at Foreign Office with: William Hague MP & Jeremy Hunt MP
15/03/2011  Meeting with Ed Vaizey MP
22/06/2011  Meeting with Daniel Hannan MEP
28/06/2011  Meeting with Jeremy Hunt MP
04/07/2011  Phone call with Alex Salmond MSP
10/08/2011  Phone call with Alex Salmond MSP
07/09/2011  Meeting with Cheryl Gillan MP
17/10/2011  Meeting with Bill Cash MP
03/11/2011  Meeting with Carwyn Jones AM
05/10/2011  Phone call with Jeremy Hunt MP
24/10/2011  Meeting with Jeremy Hunt MP
22/11/2011  Meeting with Alex Salmond MSP
07/12/2011  Meeting with Nick Clegg MP
11/01/2012  Meeting with Ed Milliband MP
19/01/2012  Meeting with David Cameron
24/01/2012  Meeting with Jeremy Hunt MP
31/01/2012  Meeting with Philip Davies MP
06/02/2012  Meeting with Jeremy Hunt MP
06/02/2012  Meeting with Menzies Campbell MP
09/02/2012  Meeting with Arlene Foster MLA
17/02/2012  Meeting with Gisela Stuart MP
27/02/2012  Meeting with Nadine Dorries MP and Tessa Munt MP
19/03/2012  Phone call with Jeremy Hunt MP
19/03/2012  Phone call with Don Foster MP
20/03/2012  Meeting with Labour Front Bench DCMS team Baroness Maggie Jones, Lord Wilf Stevenson, Lord Ray Collins followed by meeting with backbench group.

In addition to the above meetings and phone calls, Mark Thompson hosted a number of events and briefings with question and answer sessions during the period specified in your request. These events include lunches, dinners and receptions and the details are set out in the table below. Such events are standard across the industry and used for a wide range of reasons; from developing partnerships with external organisations and institutions, to publicising new programming and building relationships with our external stakeholders. Guests invited to these events represent a broad cross-section of community representatives, opinion-formers and the media. It is not always possible to provide a definitive list of attendees for these types of events as many MPs and Peers do not RSVP to invites and a record is not kept on the day.

The BBC is careful to ensure corporate hospitality events provide value for money and in recent years, has significantly decreased the amount of corporate hospitality we offer.

Please note that the dinners held at Mark Thompson’s home on 2 October 2010 and 20 November 2010 were at no cost to the BBC.


02/10/2010 Private dinner at Mark Thompson’s home – guests included Jeremy Hunt MP

02/11/2010 MP Briefing, attendees:
Luciana Berger MP
Gemma Doyle MP
Jack Dromey MP
Bill Esterson MP
Lisa Nandy MP
Alison McGovern MP
Catherine McKinnell MP
Ian Mearns MP
Tessa Pearce MP

09/11/2010 MP Briefing, attendees:
Andrea Leadsom MP
Nick De Bois MP
Damian Hinds MP
Dan Byles MP
Jo Johnson MP
Karen Lumley MP
Mark Garnier MP
Michael Ellis MP
Richard Graham MP
Simon Kirby MP
Stuart Andrew MP

20/11/2010 Private dinner at Mark Thompson’s home – guests included Ben Bradshaw MP

07/12/2010 MP Briefing, attendees:
Alistair Carmichael MP
Norman Baker MP
Don Foster MP
Duncan Hames MP
Steve Webb MP
Andrew George MP
Peers:
Lord Addington
Baroness Kathryn Parminter
Baroness Neuberger

18/01/2011 MP Briefing, attendees:
Rushanara Ali MP
Tom Blenkinsop MP
Pat Glass MP
Graham Jones MP
Graeme Morrice MP
Bridget Phillipson MP
Emma Reynolds MP
Jonathan Reynolds MP
Liz Kendall MP
Pamela Nash MP
Anas Sarwar MP
Gavin Shuker MP
Owen Smith MP
Valerie Vaz MP

12/07/2011 BBC All Party Parliamentary Group - topic of discussion: BBC Annual Report

09/09/2011 Northwest MPs Visit to MediaCityUK, attendees:
Ian Lewis MP
Hazel Blears MP
Paul Goggins MP
Andrew Miller MP
Yvonne Fovargue MP

18/10/2011 MP Briefing, attendees:
Dame Anne Begg MP
Luciana Berger MP
Dr Therese Coffey MP
Damian Collins MP
Paul Farrelly MP
Tim Farron MP
Helen Goodman MP
Louise Mensch MP
Mark Menzies MP
Austin Mitchell MP
Owen Smith MP
Rory Stewart MP
Peers:
Baroness Bonham-Carter
Lord Bragg
Baroness Fookes
Lord Fowler
Lord Glasgow
Lord Grocott
Baroness Howe
Lord Inglewood
Lord Jones of Cheltenham
Lord Lipsey
Baroness Neville-Jones
Lord Newby
Baroness Scott
Lord Stevenson
Lord Storey

02/11/2011 BBC All Party Parliamentary Group - topic of discussion: Delivering Quality First

28/02/2012 MP Briefing, attendees:
Luciana Berger MP
Dr Therese Coffey MP
Damian Collins MP
Philip Davies MP
Paul Farrelly MP
Don Foster MP
Helen Goodman MP
Tessa Jowell MP
Mark Menzies MP
Gerry Sutcliffe MP
Rob Wilson MP
Peers:
Lord Birt
Baroness Bonham-Carter
Lord Bragg
Baroness Deech
Lord Gordon of Strathblane
Baroness Howe
Lord Inglewood
Rt Rev Graham James
Lord Skelmersdale
Lord Smith

Mark Thompson also attended a number of externally hosted events, the details of which are provided in the table below. As the BBC did not host these events no further details about attendance are held. This list of events does not include Mr Thompson’s appearances at Parliamentary Committees and Hearings, for example, Select Committee and House of Lords Communications Committee.


16/03/2011 Attended creative industries round table lunch hosted by Vince Cable, MP and Jeremy Hunt MP
31/03/2011 Attended event hosted by Ed Vaizey MP
08/06/2011 Attended Founders Forum reception at Downing Street
14/09/2011 Attended dinner hosted by Jeremy Hunt MP at the RTS in Cambridge

The Archbishop of York has decided, once more, to speak out against marriage equality. It seems the Archbishop believes the legislation is unnecessary because it's intended to meet the emotional need of a small number of people rather than to right an injustice. The Archbishop fails to appreciate that emotional needs are substantially bound up with injustice. I have heard directly from Archbishop Sentamu about various issues, so more about his views in a future blog.

Not long ago Newsround asked  "Is there something that matters to you that you think no one else cares about? Or maybe you've already done something about an issue that affects you. We want to know the things that really matter to you."

Of course CBBC used to have a lot of message boards. But, as part "improvements" to the CBBC website, most of the important message boards were closed down. Kids were no longer able to use BBC message boards to discuss exactly the issues Newsround had asked about. I'd imagine if the message boards were still in place there would be discussions about racism, homophobia and bullying, as well as the hot topic of 'gay marriage'

Newsround Blog has, on several occasions, pointed out that removing well-used kids' message boards was misguided. The Corporation's lack of concern can be judged from how long it took former Head of BBC Children's, Richard Deverell, to reply to a letter from Kathleen Marshall, then Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People. Kathleen originally wrote to Richard on 14th January 2009, but Mr Deverell did not reply until 24th March 2009 - well over two months later. With such apparent lack of respect towards someone charged with looking after the interests of children and young people, it hardly comes as a surprise that the BBC has scant regard for its audiences.

About ten days ago a 15 year old boy, Travis Corr, took his own life. He'd been a victim of school bullying. It remains to be seen whether BBC Children's will take steps to try and prevent any more tragedies. Properly inclusive programming would help, as would more pro-active school anti-bullying practices.

All young people should be given a voice and taken seriously. BBC Children's has just gone on its own merry way, chock-a-block with vulgarity and puerile humour for far too long.

United Nations v Homophobia - part 2

 Today is IDAHO day, but there have been no reports about combatting homophobia on Newsround.

 UNESCO's meeting in Paris yesterday ended with the screening of a short film Stand Up! - Don't Stand for Homophobic Bullying made by the BeLonG To organisation in Ireland.

Full transcripts and resources will be put on the UNESCO website in due course. The BeLonG To video is available on YouTube -


 

United Nations v Homophobia - part 1


Eric Falt - UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for External Relations and Public Information introduced today's meeting: Effective Policies and Practices to Address Homophobic Bullying in Educational Institutions.

Eric Falt introducing UNESCO meeting on 16th May 2012
Mr Falt's introduction began as follows -

Ms Russlynn Ali, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education; Mr Louis-Georges Tin, IDAHO Founder and IDAHO Committee President; Mr Charles Radcliffe - Chief, Global Issues Section at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights;  Mr Lauri Sivonen - Advisor to the Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe; Excellencies, Dear colleagues and Friends

It is a pleasure for me to welcome all of you here today on behalf of the Director-General of UNESCO, Ms Irina Bokova. As you know, she could not be with us today, but I'll have the pleasure to read a message that she was very keen for me to share with you. Before I do so, just a few words to say that this UNESCO house is really the house of all cultures, and all people. We proudly welcome everyone here, and everyone's rights are respected here.

Today is the eve of IDAHO day, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, and, as you all know, this day has been celebrated in many parts of the world since 2005, and is organised by the IDAHO committee - still I think we can say a new event in the international calendar, and probably has some ways to go before gaining full acceptance everywhere. But certainly the fact that we celebrate this day here today is indicative of a new willingness, I would say, of all stakeholders to concretely recognise that gay rights are human rights.

Moving to such a point of acceptance is a long and slow process for some perhaps, and for others it is a journey met with obstacles. For my part, for instance, I am very aware of the prejudices that I inherited from society early on in my life which I have slowly been able, like I'm sure many others, to overcome to a point of acceptance today.

A much better example of such a journey, which obviously has a lot more impact, could of course be seen in the recent statement on marriage equality made by the President of the United States of America, President Obama. He said - I'm sure you heard his speech and his remarks only last week, I think it was the 9th May in a television interview, and I quote him, "At a certain point, I have just concluded that for me personally it is important to go ahead and confirm that I think that same sex couples should be able to go ahead and get married." Unquote.

Earlier this year, on the 7th March the UN Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-moon addressed a video message to the Human Rights Council meeting on violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. He said, and I quote him: "To those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, let me say you are not alone. Your struggle for an end to violence and discrimination is a shared struggle. Any attack on you is an attack on the universal values the United Nations and I have sworn to defend and uphold. Today I stand with you, and I call upon all countries and people to stand with you too." Unquote. Again this was Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaking only a few weeks ago. And I'm sure you know he's had a chance to express his views on the matter, and the views of the United Nations at large more and more in recent months.

The simple fact of loving someone of the same gender remains unfortunately illegal in too many countries. But consensus is slowly moving towards declaring that this is simply inadmissible in the 21st century. The only way to overcome the ignorance of the other is through education and understanding. This is an important task and it starts, in many ways, on the benches of schools. And that's why the importance of having this meeting here today - the house of education, culture and science,  but certainly where education takes  a primary goal. Schools are squarely at the epicentre of the storm of homophobic bullying. And this kind of bullying has even reached, we now know better, epidemic proportions in some parts of the world, and it must be stopped. No child's life should be threatened in the place where they're expected to learn. No child's life should be cut short because they are fearful of going to a school that ought to be a nurturing and accepting environment.

Last week was one of mixed fortunes for the human rights of lesbian and gay people. The week began with the presidential election in France, and the victory of Francois Hollande - a supporter of equal marriage.

On Wednesday the Queen announced some of the legislation we can expect in the coming months. Newsround might have had something to say about proposals to increase powers of the Children's Commissioner, but instead the programme concentrated on possible changes to the House of Lords. Fortunately for CBBC there was no hint of marriage equality legislation - so this time Newsround can't be accused of censoring LGBT-related news.

Across the pond, residents of North Carolina were voting on whether same-sex marriage and partnerships should be made unconstitutional.  Last time North Carolina amended their constitution on marriage it was to ban interracial marriage:

North Carolina's marriage amendment in 1875

North Carolina again decided that human rights do not apply to some citizens.

Later that day President Obama told the world that his position on the issue of marriage had evolved, and that he had now personally decided that gay and lesbian couples should, indeed, be entitled to marry. Obama said his daughters - Malia and Sasha (aged 13 & 10) - didn't understand reasons for the discrimination.

President Obama: Malia and Sasha - it wouldn't dawn on them that, somehow their friends' parents would be treated differently. It doesn't make sense to them. And frankly that's the kind of thing that prompts a change of perspective - you know not wanting to somehow explain to your child why somebody should be treated differently ...

Meanwhile it turns out that President Obama's rival, Mitt Romney, had been something of a homophobic school bully. Romney's conditional apology and failure to condemn bullying, give little sign that he's become a more compassionate man as he's grown older.

On Tuesday Newsround asked its audience: "Is there something that matters to you that you think no one else cares about? Or maybe you've already done something about an issue that affects you. We want to know the things that really matter to you."  Unfortunately a "technical fault" intervened. So if any kids were concerned about, for example, homophobia or bullying, they'll just have to wait.

BBC Trust reply to my open letter (blog 20th April 2012)

Reply received on 2nd May 2012 --

I am responding on behalf of the Trust to your further correspondence with us on the topic of recruiting the next Director-General.

The BBC is indeed committed to the furtherance of equality and diversity. The Corporation’s strategy in this area, as well as the most recent progress report can be found on the BBC website here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/diversity/

The Trust has particular responsibilities in the area of diversity and in line with our commitment to openness and transparency, we have published our work in this area at the following link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/about/how_we_govern/diversity_equality/index.shtml

The BBC’s diversity strategy has been agreed at all levels of the organisation, and I am sure will be embraced as much by the next Director-General as it is by the current one. You will note Mark Thompson’s personal endorsement of the strategy in the documents at the first link above.

Thank you for taking an active interest in this issue.