BBC journalists have publicly criticised Question Time’s decision to debate the teaching of tolerance of LGBT relationships in primary schools, arguing that the issue should not be up for debate.

The topic has come to the fore in recent weeks following protests from mainly Muslim parents against lessons teaching tolerance for people of different races, genders and sexual orientations at primary schools in Birmingham.

An audience member, Keith Broughton, was picked to ask panellists on Thursday night’s programme: “Is it morally right that five-year-old children learn about LGBTQ+ issues in school?”

All of the panellists on the programme, including the education secretary, Damian Hinds, agreed that schools should teach such subjects, but journalists at the corporation have publicly criticised the decision to even put the topic up for debate.

BBC Breakfast presenter Ben Thompson said he had concerns with the phrasing of the question: “LGBT ‘issues’? Like what? That we exist? One of them, RIGHT HERE, is on your TV every morning … Would you ask if it’s ‘morally right’ to learn about gender/race/religion/disability ‘issues’?”

BBC News senior foreign producer Tony Brown added: “Replace LGBT with black or Jewish and this question would never have been asked on national TV.”

One on-screen BBC journalist said there was growing concern among the corporation’s LGBT employees about how the BBC debates such issues: “We are supposed to set things in context – but that doesn’t mean accepting a position that is wrong, or failing to call it out as offensive. We wouldn’t ask ‘Is terrorism morally justified?’

“I look at the care we take over our other reporting and this leaves me totally confused. We are meant to educate as well as inform.”

Sue Perkins, the former Great British Bake Off host who regularly presents BBC programmes, backed their concerns. “The framing of this question is deeply worrying. Are we really here again, nearly two decades after Section 28 was repealed?” she asked on Twitter.

A BBC spokesperson said: “Question Time is a topical debate programme. This was a question asked by an audience member on a subject which has seen a lot of recent discussion.”

On Thursday, the BBC director general, Tony Hall, reiterated the corporation’s commitment to impartiality and said: “Making sure all sides of a debate are heard – all different views and voices – is fundamental to our mission.”

Earlier in the week BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour programme discussed the issue with a headteacher at a Birmingham school and a parent who opposed the policy. They later apologised for posting a tweet about the discussion asking: “Do you think LGBT rights should be taught in schools?”, saying the summary “didn’t reflect the item”.