Alan Turing was born on 23rd June 1912, exactly 102 years ago today. He died from cyanide poisoning at the age of 41. Whether he committed suicide or was murdered is, today, the subject of some speculation. One thing is for sure, though: Turing was a victim of homophobia. Sixty years later, and with gay people now allowed to get married, it would be nice to think the kind of anti-gay prejudice which led to Turing's death was a thing of the past. But unfortunately that's not the case.

In early 2011 I suggested BBC Children's should do something in time for Turing's centenary year. My email to Joe Godwin dated 10th January 2011 was answered on 24th January 2011 but with no reference to the Turing idea. The Centenary year came and went without any mention of Turing on the CBBC channel or on Newsround's website.

For a while it seemed Turing was persona non grata on CBBC. Then, this year, Absolute Genius with Dick and Dom devoted an entire episode to Alan Turing. But the failure to say anything about his sexuality gives every impression that someone at BBC Children's doesn't believe in equality for lesbian and gay people.

Many biographies of scientists in other episodes from the Absolute Genius series had references to (heterosexual) family relationships, so I asked a few CBBC executives including channel controller, Cheryl Taylor, whether they thought children might benefit from the knowledge that one of Britain's great geniuses and heroes was gay. No-one has ventured to answer that question. To do so would risk the ire of the department boss, whose discriminatory attitude was clear from a quote published in "Portrayal of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual People" (November 2012)

When the first civil partnerships took place in the UK back in 2005 they were seen by many as a big step in the right direction towards equality. It took BBC children's TV many years to catch up and acknowledge the change, but eventually that happened in a Valentine's Day edition of 12 Again, by which time Parliament had begun legislation to allow same sex couples to marry in England and Wales. By summer 2013 that legislation had been completed and received Royal Assent.

The civil partnership episode of Marrying Mum and Dad was repeated again last Sunday, presumably in recognition of Fathers' Day. In relation to a previous repeat of the programme I'd been told (on 3rd April 2014) "For clarity to the audience we will include around that transmission the information that the episode was filmed before the change in law on same sex marriages in England and Wales."

There was no such announcement last Sunday. It seems the BBC children's department is now content to, in effect, tell audiences that gay couples are not entitled to get married.

Tomorrow marks 102 years since the birth of mathematician, WWII codebreaker and computer pioneer Alan Turing. Dr Turing was also an early advocate for the rights of 'homosexuals'.

The Banff World Media Festival begins in Canada in just a few hours. One regular attendee from Britain is the BBC's Director of Children's - Joe Godwin. Very few other BBC staff go, though it is by no means clear from his expenses records whether his attendance is actually on behalf of the UK television licence-payer or for some other reason.

Mr Godwin has an important position within the BBC, and few, if any, people in the children's department are prepared to question his authority. Such unbridled power is not necessarily a good thing.

Take, for instance, the issue of diversity.

Most are in favour of treating people of different races as equals. Few programmes shown on the BBC's children's channels ignore the need to represent the racial diversity of this country. But, as we saw in yesterday's blog, things are quite different when it comes to fair treatment of LGBT people. A whole children's programme about the life and work of Alan Turing - and not even a suggestion that he was gay.

Who was responsible for that omission, and was it justified?

Newsround Blog is clear that telling the whole truth about Alan Turing would help thousands of kids who are subjected to homophobic bullying or who are just finding difficulty coming to terms with their sexuality. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown was one of the guests on Dateline London yesterday morning (BBC News channel.) Ms Alibhai-Brown had received an email from one such schoolchild.

One of the problems with the BBC children's department is that once you start asking anyone about LGBT diversity it's not long before you hit the buffers. Staff seem scared to show support for LGBT equality. That's why, perhaps, I haven't heard back from Helen Bullough, and why Sarah Muller, Head of CBBC Drama Development and Acquisitions, and Cheryl Taylor, Controller of CBBC, are reluctant to answer my questions. In fact I'm aware that the former Controller of CBBC - now Controller of BBC Daytime - Damian Kavanagh, had been given specific instructions not to answer my enquiries.

According to their website, this year is the 35th Anniversary of the Banff World Media Festival. Joe Godwin is on the Advisory Board for "Kids and Animation" as is Agnes Augustin, CEO of the Shaw Rocket Fund, which as we've seen has little or no interest in supporting LGBT equality. At the time of writing, Joe Godwin's bio on the website states that "As Director of BBC Children's, Joe Godwin is responsible for all of the BBC's services for children on BBC One and BBC Two as well as the dedicated CBBC and CBeebies channels and websites. .." Joe should now advise the Banff people that there aren't any children's services on BBC One and BBC Two.

Yesterday was the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Commemorations of the anniversary took place in France and were widely reported, including by CBBC Newsround. Today is another anniversary - the 60th anniversary of the death of Alan Turing who, together with his colleagues at Bletchley Park, was responsible for the wartime codebreaking work without which more allied troops would have lost their lives.

So what has CBBC Newsround done to honour the work of Turing? The answer is absolutely nothing. Even the 30th anniversary of Tetris has received more coverage. Turing's centenary in 2012 passed without his name being mentioned.

But in March this year Alan Turing was the subject of one episode of a CBBC series about the lives and work of various scientific geniuses. Only, in the case of the programme about Alan Turing, it seems that someone thought kids should not be told that Turing was gay.

Absolute Genius with Dick and Dom - series 2 episode 8 - Alan Turing
Over the last few months Newsround Blog has been investigating why the fact of Alan Turing's sexual orientation was censored. After all it's no secret that black people suffered discrimination and prejudice, so why shouldn't CBBC have mentioned anything about the kind of injustice Alan Turing had to endure?

A good starting point, you might think, would be to ask the series executive producer, Daniel Clarke. Mr Clarke now works with Ian Katz as an assistant editor on BBC2's Newsnight. I emailed Daniel on 17th March 2014 -

As you may already be aware, Alan Turing's sexuality played a significant part in his life, from the inspiration of Christopher Morcom during his teenage years through to the persecution he suffered after the war.

Please could you let me know why last week's edition of Absolute Genius with Dick and Dom, omitted to even mention that Turing was gay? Thanks.

I didn't hear back from Mr Clarke directly, but I did instead get a reply from the Head of CBBC Productions in Salford, Helen Bullough.

I emailed Mr Clarke again on 3rd April 2014 -

I have now heard back from CBBC in respect of the Absolute Genius with Dick and Dom episode which featured Alan Turing. I'm sorry that you did not feel able to respond in person, but assure you that I do understand the difficulties.

The gist of Ms Bullough's reply was that Alan Turing's sexuality wasn't relevant to the story they were telling about coding and computing.

My detailed response on 7th April ended with these points -

.... in relation to the programme about Alan Turing, you say Turing's sexuality wasn't relevant to the particular story you were telling about coding and computing. Surely it was no less significant to the life and work of Turing than was, for example, Henry Fox Talbot's sexuality, implicitly mentioned in last week's episode? But anyway don't you feel that children might perhaps have benefited from the knowledge that one of Britain's great geniuses and heroes was gay?

Ms Bullough has so far declined to answer the questions despite a further request to do so on 30th April 2014.

My previous blog looked into some of the dubious circumstances behind the BBC's acquisition of The Next Step for showing in the UK.

Yesterday CBBC broadcast episode 12 - "Get It Together" - which gave kids some insight into what the Canadian programme makers think of people here in Britain. At one point Daniel mentioned that he'd watched a YouTube video. He tells viewers: "We're sitting around, um, talking and doing funny accents .."

Daniel talks about doing funny accents
West and James go on to explain the reasons. We then see the dancers' attempts at imitating the "funny" British accent. Riley kicks off with "Allo, allo" and they start laughing -

Next Michelle tries with "Crumpets and tea" which results in further amusement. Riley, possibly mocking polite British manners, or maybe in a nod to Oliver Twist, tries again with "May I please have some more?"

The Next Step dancers laugh at the funny accents

It's Not Rocket Science

Did Rocket turn down the chance of dating Bethany Summer solely out of loyalty to his best mate, Dibber? Or was there perhaps some other reason? Time will tell.

But if Rocket doesn't want a relationship with Bethany, another Rocket - the Shaw Rocket Fund - does seem to be in close relationship with some senior people in the BBC children's department. The Shaw Rocket Fund exists to help Canadian TV companies. This is from their website -

The Shaw Rocket Fund is constantly on the lookout for investment opportunities in great television and digital programs that will fuel the imagination and intelligence of Canadian children, youth and families.

Eligible programs are evaluated on creative quality, financial strength, and the values and benefits they provide to the intended target audience, on all platforms. The strongest proposals, based on the evaluation and discretion of the Shaw Rocket Fund, are considered for investment.

Whereas some programmes backed by the Fund - for example Wingin' It and The Next Step - are, to an extent, racially diverse, the same is less true in respect of gay portrayal.

Newsround Blog has made extensive enquires in order to ascertain whether the Rocket Fund takes account of LGBT diversity when it decides which ideas to back. The Fund's non-response to any correspondence on the matter suggests that diversity has played no role in past decisions, and that it's unlikely to in future decisions.

Bearing in mind that the BBC is signed up to the Creative Diversity Network Pledge, it is difficult to understand why senior staff from the children's department have cooperated with the Canadian organisation. At least two senior BBC personnel have either worked as jurors for the Rocket Fund and/or helped out with mentorship and/or worked in an advisory capacity for the Banff Media Festival.

One of the Rocket Fund's panel of international jurors which, last year, nominated The Next Step for an award was also the person responsible for acquiring the programme for CBBC.

The following is an extract from the BBC's policy on expenses -

Whilst modest hospitality is an accepted courtesy of a business relationship, the recipient should not allow a position to be reached whereby its acceptance might be deemed by others to have influenced a decision or lead to potential allegations of conflict of interest.

The Banff World Media Festival begins on 8th June 2014. As in previous years, the 2014 Festival venue will be the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

I emailed the BBC children's media people on 17th May 2012, referring to a UNESCO conference which had just been held in Paris dealing with how education can combat homophobia. I asked CBBC whether there were plans to be more LGBT-inclusive and thereby directly or indirectly address the pernicious problem of homophobic bullying.

The response included the following -

BBC Children’s does a lot of work in the field of inclusive portrayal although, bearing in mind the age of our target audience (6-12), it can be challenging to find the right stories and deal with children and their families appropriately and sensitively.

CBBC accepted they hadn't done anything to cover International Day Against Homophobia (and Transphobia.) In mitigation I was told that we don’t do things to cover most ‘international days of’. CBBC said they were actively working on several programme proposals which directly address these issues.

Anyone who watched Newsround's TV bulletins on Friday 16th May 2014 would have seen quite a lot about Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Day. He said that every school in every country should arm their kids with the knowledge of food - where it comes from, and how it affects their body. According to Jamie, it's a human right that every child is taught about food. Today it was revealed that Jamie's wealth had risen by £90 million over the last year. The media world can be very rewarding.

Yesterday was International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. Newsround, as in every previous year, ignored the event and said nothing.

If you've ever looked at some Canadian children's programmes like Wingin' It and The Next Step, you might well have noticed that they don't include any lesbian and gay characters. Newsround Blog has been investigating why the BBC children's department has purchased these series with disregard for, and seemingly in contravention of the BBC's CDN pledge.

17th May is fast approaching. And that means it will soon be International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia - IDAHOT.

There has been an important development since IDAHOT 2013. Marriage equality laws were passed in Britain's parliaments. MPs and MSPs backed the legislation despite opposition from some religious authorities as well as a substantial amount of hostile TV news coverage - mainly on the BBC.

When the first marriages took place on 29th March 2014 the story was reported on Newsround, but it was not presented as something worthy of celebration - a victory for human rights and equality which would benefit thousands of viewers in the years to come. Instead Newsround told kids it was a "big change" that had sparked "strong views" as part of what they described as an "argument."

Yesterday the Church of England published a document called Valuing All God’s Children - Guidance for Church of England Schools on Challenging Homophobic Bullying.

Newsround can often be relied upon to report religion-based news; all the more so, you might expect, when that news is directly relevant to many in its target audience. However there seems to be another rule which overrides that convention: Nothing can be reported by Newsround which might possibly be interpreted as in any way helping or supporting gay kids.

So, little sign of embracing equality on Newsround, but what about other programmes on BBC children's TV?

It would be nice to think that Wizards vs Aliens is part of a new strategy to make CBBC more inclusive. For those who don't know, Benny came out as gay in the last episode of series 2. You will, however, notice here that the word 'gay' was not actually spoken.

Newsround Blog has been unable to ascertain whether the third series of Wizards vs Aliens will see Benny in romantic situations with other boys. Whereas CBBC bosses clearly recognise the obvious importance of BAME outreach, it looks like they see lesbian and gay diversity only in terms of dramatic storylines. There is an unwillingness to answer enquiries about LGBT outreach. This might be down to homophobic prejudice, but as we shall see in a future blog, it is also the result of venality.

Recommended Reading Prep for next blog -

1} GayStarNews article about homophobia in Canada

2} Guardian article about the importance of LGBT visibility

Jeremy Clarkson was uncharacteristically contrite yesterday after it was revealed that he'd used a racist word whilst making an episode of Top Gear. To be fair, this Blog has been unable to discern any offending racist word in the recording.

The BBC issued this statement:

Jeremy Clarkson has set out the background to this regrettable episode.
We have made it absolutely clear to him, the standards the BBC expects on air and off.
We have left him in no doubt about how seriously we view this.

According to his colleague and co-presenter, James May, Jeremy Clarkson is not a racist. Mr May added that he wouldn't work with one.

The Top Gear team has previously been accused of racism, and Clarkson has personally been accused of homophobia on more than one occasion. A few months ago he uploaded a picture which referred to him as a gay **** thereby suggesting that making fun of person's sexuality is an OK thing to do. Soon afterwards he deleted the picture and offered a half-hearted and sarcastic apology. The picture is still widely available on the internet, and the person just behind Clarkson looks suspiciously like James May - the very same man who says he wouldn't work with racists.

The yobbish culture at the heart of the BBC (2008)

One of Newsround's main stories yesterday was about the canonisation of two popes. It was reported like this at 9.04am

Jenny: Hundreds of thousands of people are gathering in Rome this morning to witness history being made. It's the very first time two popes will be made saints at the same time. Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII will be honoured in an open-air ceremony in Vatican City. Up to a million people are expected at the event, with hundreds of millions more watching on TV around the world.

Alan Johnston: Well the Catholic Church has simply never seen a day quite like this in all its 2000 years of history: Two much-loved popes being recognised as saints in the same ceremony, and extraordinarily two living popes presiding over that ceremony. But this is a really huge religious event.

Fairly positive reporting, then, with not even a hint that the canonisation was controversial because of the young people who suffered abuse whilst John Paul II was still in charge, and the fact that he did not act strongly enough to stamp it out.

The two other Newsround reports yesterday were no better -

Alan Johnson explained the ceremony like this - We've just witnessed a hugely important religious event here at the Vatican: Two former popes being made saints. Now to become a saint the Church has to believe not only that you're in heaven, it has to believe also that you're so important there that you can actually persuade God to deliver miracles. In the case of one of these popes - the former Polish pope John Paul II - the Church believes that two women, who were very very ill, prayed to him and were miraculously cured. The Church believes John Paul II cured two women miraculously, and that qualifies him to be a saint ........

Johnston went into quite a lot of detail on the religious beliefs surrounding canonisation, but he failed to tell Newsround viewers that, only days beforehand, a young man named Marco Gusmini was killed when a giant crucifix collapsed on top of him. The really spooky thing about Marco's death is that the crucifix which killed him had been dedicated to John Paul II. So wasn't the Catholic Church worried that Marco dying in those circumstances might cancel out the other miracles? I suspect that neither Alan Johnston, nor any other BBC journalist made enquiries to the Vatican on that score.

Newsround stressed the bit about history being made yesterday. Unfortunately it was nowhere near as positive about another historical event last month - the first same-sex marriages ever to take place in Britain. People might wonder whether the BBC holds its LGBT viewers in lower esteem than those of faith.

CBBC has been asking kids to send in feedback about what makes them livid -

If the recent BBC adaption of Jamaica Inn deserved any prizes for lack of intelligibility, then surely The Next Step must surely also be up for an award.

The Next Step is a fictional drama made in the style of a documentary. The series comes from Canada and follows a group of teens who supposedly attend a dance studio called The Next Step. The diction is often unclear, with many actors hurriedly mumbling their lines. It was first broadcast in Britain on 7 April 2014, and the first 5 episodes were shown on successive weekdays.

Despite having been given a great deal of publicity on the CBBC channel, including three of the actors being invited on more than one occasion to the presentation studio as well as to Blue Peter on 10th April, viewing figures were not good - being significantly below 200,000 all week (BARB w/e 13 April)

Martin Dougan and Leah Gooding took part in a live webchat last Tuesday afternoon. One of the questioners asked: Is it hard to tell the news when you don't agree with it? How do you get through the situation?

Leah replied: My job is to tell you guys the news. My opinion doesn't count, I have to be fair and unbiased.

Martin responded: I still have to be professional and cover every story the same. I might personally have opinions, but when it comes to working at the BBC, You have to be impartial.

The reality is this ... some stories - the approved ones - get loads of coverage, but as soon as CBBC has any reservations, censorship creeps in.

The start of this morning's bulletin at 7.40am -

Ricky: First up, it's a story that's all over the front and back pages of this morning's papers ...

Ricky's story was about the future of David Moyes.

Another, more relevant, story about the South Korean ferry disaster has still not even been mentioned by Newsround. Perhaps it's been censored because Newsround presenters or their bosses think the news would upset children too much. But there's a very important lesson to be learnt from that story: Should people always do what those in authority say, or should they think for themselves?

When the ferry disaster occurred the captain told passengers to stay in their rooms. Many just took that advice and ended up getting drowned. But others ignored the advice and survived the ordeal.

If News has any real value, surely it's to help us learn from other people's experiences. By failing to report the Ferry story Newsround has done its young viewers a disservice.

The BBC appears unwilling to explain the reason for having an exceptionally early deadline for applications to take part in series 3 of Marrying Mum and Dad. Here are some possibly relevant details.

Marrying Mum and Dad deadline for applications to take part in series 1 was 29th February 2012. The first series - which did not include any civil partnerships - was recorded over the next four months or so, and screened on weekdays the same year beginning on Monday 13 August 2012.

The Scottish Government had announced its plans to allow same sex marriage on 25th July 2012, and on 11th December 2012 the UK Government confirmed its intention to legislate for marriage equality in England and Wales.

On Christmas Day 2012 BBC News led with an item about religious objections to same-sex marriage.

Marrying Mum and Dad deadline for applications to take part in series 2 was 22nd January 2013. One of the programme's main researchers went to some lengths in order to try and get same-sex couples to apply: "... I’ve been sending out this information to various different organisations, for families to be involved. I’m really keen to have a same sex couple appear on the show as my sisters and I were raised by two mums, and understand the importance of having more diverse families shown on television ..."

CBBC was successful in their aim, and the civil partnership took place on 1st June 2013 - almost two weeks after equal marriage legislation had passed all its stages in the House of Commons and after David Cameron had told the BBC that there will be young children "in schools today who are gay, who are worried about being bullied, who are worried about what society thinks of them, who can see that the highest parliament in the land has said that their love is worth the same as anyone else's love, and that we believe in equality. And I think that they'll stand that bit taller today, and I'm proud of the fact that that has happened. ... "

The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 was given Royal Assent on 17th July 2013 and the Government said marriages for England and Wales would begin in 2014 - the exact start date would be given before the end of 2013.

The civil partnership episode of Marrying Mum and Dad was the last series 2 episode to be recorded, but was broadcast as episode 6 on Monday 12th August 2013.

After series 2 ended CBBC sought out more families to take part in series 3. This time however they seemed somewhat less willing to hear from same sex couples. The "Get Involved" promos didn't even mention civil partnerships. And this time the deadline for taking part was 30th September 2013 - about 4 months earlier than it had been for series 1 & 2, even though filming was scheduled to take place at an equivalent time of year as the previous series.

So the question arises as to whether the BBC was interested in filming same sex-marriages. If they were, then why such an early deadline?

Newsround Blog investigations of this matter have been quite thorough. On 8th October 2013 I enquired as follows -

... I was interested to know whether you were looking for same sex couples to take advantage of the new equality. The deadline for applications for series 3 was some four months earlier than it was for the first two series. Was there any special reason for such an early deadline, and is there any possibility that the deadline could be extended in order to, perhaps, include a same sex marriage? ...

The same researcher who'd previously been so keen on diversity now seemed a lot less interested in the idea of CBBC covering a same-sex marriage.

Same-sex marriages took place for the first time in Britain on Saturday 29th March 2014. The repeat of CBBC's civil partnership episode of Marrying Mum and Dad was pulled on 31st March 2014, but was broadcast at 10am and 1.15pm on Monday 14th April 2014. The terms "civil partner" or "civil partnership" are heard no less than eighteen times throughout the episode. A short while after the programme ended on Monday there was a brief announcement that two men or two women can now marry in England and Wales. There was no such announcement before or after Monday's 1.15pm afternoon repeat (which included signing for the deaf)

Last year the BBC Trust carried out its Children's Service Review. Part of my response was as follows -

Marrying Mum & Dad is a reality TV series in which children help to plan their parents' marriage or civil partnership. The first series, which did not include any civil partnerships, was transmitted last August. A second series was commissioned a few months afterwards - an insensitive and crass thing to do, with equal marriage rights so much in the spotlight.

CBBC has, it seems, now pulled tomorrow's scheduled 'civil partnership' episode of Marrying Mum and Dad, and replaced it with an episode from the first series.

I am still awaiting answers to my enquiries relating to the very early deadline which was imposed on applications to take part in the third series. Series 3 is being filmed at the moment.

Gay couples were legally entitled to marry in England and Wales from 00:00am on Saturday 29th March 2014. The story was reported on Friday evening's Newsround bulletin (4.20pm) -

Martin Dougan: From tomorrow same-sex couples will be able to get married for the first time in England and Wales. Up until now gay couples have been able to have a civil partnership, which is similar to marriage but doesn't give all the same rights. Some religious groups say they're not happy with the changes, and will not carry out gay weddings. Scotland's also announced plans to make same-sex marriage legal too in the future, but there are no such plans in Northern Ireland.

Currently there is no later bulletin on Friday evenings. News of the first same-sex marriages was also reported on Saturday 29th March 2014 on all three bulletins. It was the second item at 8.55am -

Ricky Boleto: A big change to laws in England and Wales came in overnight. Same-sex couples are now allowed to get married. Martin has been looking into the change, which has sparked some strong views.

(recorded report) Martin Dougan: Just after midnight these people were celebrating getting married. Up until now, two men or two women have not been allowed to marry each other. But now the law has changed. But while there were celebrations for those getting married, not everyone is happy with the change. Those against it, including many religious groups, say that marriage has been between a man and woman for hundreds of years and shouldn't be altered. Up until today same-sex couples could only have a civil partnership which gives similar rights but isn't exactly the same rights as marriage. But despite the change in the law, it will be up to the individual religious organisations to choose whether or not they want to hold ceremonies for gay people. Some, like the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church, say they will not marry gay couples. Attitudes to gay people vary across the world. Sixteen countries currently allow same-sex marriage, but in others such as Iran and Nigeria it's illegal for a man to have a relationship with a man, or a woman with a woman. Scotland has also passed a law to make gay marriage legal, but there are no plans to do the same in Northern Ireland.

Gay marriage was reported as the first story on both the midday and 2pm Saturday editions of Newsround. The midday & 2pm reports were both introduced as follows -

Ricky Boleto: First to a big change to the law in England and Wales that came in overnight. Same-sex couples are now allowed to get married. Martin has been looking into the change, which has sparked some strong views from people on both sides of the argument.

Martin's report is also on the website.

This is a momentous week for celebrating equality and human rights. Because on Saturday we will see the first ever same sex marriages take place in Britain.

It is interesting to note that CBBC has scheduled repeats of Marrying Mum and Dad (series 2) on weekdays at 2.15pm, and that the episode featuring a civil partnership is due to be screened on Monday 31st March, by which time LGB same-sex couples in England and Wales will be legally entitled to marry.

On 28th July 2013, some two weeks before its first transmission, I advised CBBC's Creative Director to ensure the civil partnership episode would be relevant : ".. I'm sure you're aware that new legislation in England and Wales will mean that same-sex couples will actually be allowed to marry next year. Scotland is almost certain to follow suit. .."

Hopefully the Stonewall-award-winning episode, if shown again, will be, or has already been updated to take account of marriage equality advances.

BBC Three discussion programme Free Speech drew criticism this week after the live show on Wednesday evening pulled a debate about "when will it be right to be Muslim and gay?" BBC Three denied it was censorship.

According to a statement from the programme's makers "Discussions took place within two hours of the programme being broadcast live as to the best way to proceed, bearing in mind the security of the mosque and respect for their concerns over offending their community."

Obviously concerns about security would be a police matter, but BBC Three also referred to offending a community. So rather than just simply pull the whole programme, BBC Three chose instead to disaffirm free speech and, at the same time, ignore the potential offence caused to LGBT people, particularly to LGBT Muslims.

A BBC children's programme, that same evening, about the life and work of Alan Turing omitted to mention that Turing was gay. Whereas other episodes in the "Absolute Genius with Dick and Dom" series might perhaps legitimately ignore the sexuality of the featured genius - for example Isaac Newton - in the case of Alan Turing, being gay certainly played a crucial role in his life.

Jean Valentine (right) explains the Turing Bombe to Dick & Dom

However justified or otherwise was the decision by BBC Three, there can be no doubt that BBC children's TV was wrong not to tell kids the truth about Alan Turing. Only one week earlier an episode about Charles Darwin had talked about Darwin's married life and the fact that the couple had ten children.

So why the markedly different biographical treatment? It seems clear that, even now in 2014, some people at the BBC still do not appreciate that being lesbian, gay or bisexual is nothing to be ashamed of. Unfortunately, by omitting reference to Turing's sexuality the BBC is sending out the wrong message to kids.

A statue of Alan Turing was unveiled by Bletchley Park in 2007 shortly before what would have been his 95th birthday. A press release was issued, but there was no mention of the fact that Turing was gay.

Bletchley Park's director at the time, Simon Greenish, explained "the press release relates entirely to his invaluable work during the war years and is not in any way an attempt to whitewash his sexuality. This isn’t to say that his sexuality isn’t important in the overall story of the man and that he wasn’t treated abominably in later years. However, with very limited funds and resources, the Park is not able to tell the full life stories of the many heroes and heroines who made such a difference to the outcome of the war."

Shortly afterwards Greenish apologised and acknowledged that it was a missed opportunity. The original press release was then amended to include the relevant information.

Alan Turing was the subject of yesterday's episode of CBBC's Absolute Genius with Dick and Dom. There was no mention of Turing's sexual orientation which, of course, played such an important role throughout much of his teenage and adult life.

Newsround Blog may review CBBC's Alan Turing progamme in more detail at a later date.

Tony Hall has decided that BBC Three will become an online service only, in one of the most significant decisions he's made since taking over as director general almost a year ago. The change is designed to make cost savings which, he says, can be used to help fund drama on BBC One.

True to form, Lord Hall avoided the tough scrutiny of programmes such as Newsnight, preferring instead to subject himself to interviews by the likes of BBC media correspondent David Sillito and Radio 1 Newsbeat presenter Chris Smith.

Evening Standard journalist Nick Curtis was also granted an interview. Mr Curtis said that it was "either bravery or folly" that Tony Hall had agreed to talk to him. Mr Curtis concluded his piece with the belief that Tony Hall was "more brave than foolish."

Whilst this was undoubtedly one of Lord Hall's more difficult times, a far more demanding test will be the publication of Dame Janet Smith's Report later in the year. Any attempt to avoid the thorough scrutiny needed for that would make the DG look enervated.