Transgender Family Our World

A new regulator, the Office

for Students, is to be given powers

to uphold free speech.

Emily Unia reports.

Jo Johnson wants universities

to open minds, not close them.

He has criticised the practice

of "no platforming," when student

unions and other university groups

ban speakers with what are seen

as offensive or unacceptable views.

It's vital we uphold this principle

of legal freedom of speech

because it is the real underpinning

of how we progress of society,

how we deepen our stock

of knowledge, how we remain

innovative and ultimately how

we also resist injustices,

how the rights of minorities

to stand up and be counted and not

suppressed are upheld.

The minister wants young people

to hear and challenge controversial

opinions, a view shared

by the Vice Chancellor

of the University of Buckingham.

Universities must be

about letting dialogue and debate

happen, not suppress.

If you suppress people's views,

then you romanticise them,

you legitimise them,

you publicise them.

What we need to happen

at universities is the opposite.

The feminist campaigner,

Julie Bindel, who has personal

experience of no platforming,

argues the problem lies

with the National Union of Students.

Students that are polled are clearly

signed up to this ridiculous

snowflake attitude of having to be

wrapped in cotton wool.

Students tell me all the time

that they want to hear the likes

of me speaking against this blanket

no platforming of feminists,

as we are the ones mainly no

platformed, and they want to make

a decision about who speaks

at their university.

of me speaking against this blanket

no platforming of feminists,

as we are the ones mainly no

platformed, and they want to make

a decision about who speaks

at their university.

The NUS have yet to comment,

but their platform contains six

groups including the BNP.

Next April, the Government

is planning to bring

in a new regulator for universities.

The Office For Students

will have the power to find,

suspend or deregister institutions

that failed to uphold free speech.

Emily Unia, BBC News.

Now on BBC News - one

of the highlights of the year

from our award-winning

documentary series Our World.

This film from Ecuador

is an intimate portrayal of life

for new parents and their baby son.

But this is not your average couple.

Both husband and wife

are transgender.

This next story is going

to freak you out...

A transgender man is pregnant

by his transgender female partner.

Did you get that?

America's most high-profile

transgender couple have had a baby.

This next story is

going to freak you out.

A transgender man is pregnant

by his transgender female partner.

Did you get that?

Neither Fernando nor partner, Diane,

has gender reassignment surgery

which meant that they could conceive

a baby just like any other couple.