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The BBC has been accused of going against its own impartiality guidelines by offering training courses in which staff are told to use 'their magical ally powers' to 'access influencers and influence politicians' over trans and non-binary issues.
According to a BBC insider, junior journalists have been given a training session about how 'allies' could use their 'influence to affect trans rights for people'.
During the talk, delivered by trans awareness group Global Butterflies, staff were also said to have been encouraged to 'access influencers, change the mind of the media and influence politicians'.
This is despite the importance of impartiality being 'hammered into them' from the start of their BBC training, the BBC insider claimed.
The allegations were broadcast on the BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan Show, fronted by radio host Stephen Nolan - who produced award-nominated podcast Nolan Investigates: Stonewall last year.
The podcast, which sparked both acclaim and accusations of transphobia, examined the campaign group's influence on UK institutions, including the BBC.
A month later the BBC pulled out of the Stonewall Diversity Scheme - though the corporation insisted its review of its membership came before the podcast.
Now questions are being asked about its new scheme with Global Butterflies following the fresh allegations by Nolan and his team.
Today the BBC insisted its Editorial Guidelines - which demand impartiality - were 'sacrosanct' and that the training was 'voluntary'.
However it said it had asked Global Butterflies to make changes to the course - by removing the slide entitled 'Your magical powers of being an ally'.
The BBC (pictured: Library image of broadcasting house) has been accused of breaking its own impartiality guidelines by offering training courses in which staff are told to use 'their magical ally powers' to 'access influencers and influence politicians'
The allegations were broadcast on the BBC's Nolan Show - fronted by radio host Stephen Nolan (pictured) - whose team produced the award-nominated podcast Nolan Investigates: Stonewall last year
The podcast, which sparked both acclaim and accusations of transphobia, examined the campaign group's influence on UK institutions, including the BBC. A month later the BBC pulled out of the Stonewall (pictured: Library image of people supporting Stonewall) Diversity Scheme - though insisted its review of its membership came before the podcast
A spokesperson told MailOnline: 'This is a voluntary course and includes generic training materials provided by a third party, but the BBC's Editorial Guidelines are sacrosanct, our staff know this and they understand their responsibilities.
'The slide in question has not been included previously and will be removed for any future sessions.'
It comes after the BBC insider revealed the contents of the training course on Nolan's show yesterday.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, and with a voice-over to protect the person's identity, the insider said: 'During that session we were given a lot of different points of how allies could sort of use their influence to affect trans rights for people, and one of the slides was headlined: "with your magical powers of being an ally".
BBC podcast Nolan Investigates: Stonewall examined the campaign group's influence on UK institutions and was nominated in four categories at the annual Audio and Radio Industry Awards (Arias)
'And it wasn't until we got further down that slide that I realised that it talked about using your influence on politicians to affect change which was sort
