Gayly Mail

[Gromit]

There have been so many complaints about an article in the Mail that the newspaper regulators website crashed under the sheer volume. In a piece about the death of the BoyZone singer Stephen Gately, by Jan Moir it asserted Gately's death struck a blow to the "happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships". It has been established he died of natural causes last week.

Marks and Spencer has asked for an advertisement next to the piece to be removed, and the Mail have had to issue a statement.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8311499.stm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/16/stephen-gately-jan-moir-complaints

Fair comment, or has the Mail overstepped the mark this time?

[jno]

she's free to be as bigoted and evidence-free as she likes, I suppose, especially in the Mail. But the Mail will not be happy at losing advertisers over it. Even the bloggers on the Mail's own site (though they may of course not be regular Mail readers) are strongly against the article, which may also give the paper pause for thought.

[flip_flop]

I have just read this article and I honestly can't see what the furore is about.

I've got to agree to a degree with ahmskunnirt as it seems any criticism of anything gay is tantamount to heresy or, more likely, the default allegation of homophobia.

Now personally, I couldn't give a tinker's cuss about anybody's sexuality - it doesn't concern me and therefore doesn't bother me - however, people need to start to appreciate that people who happen to think homosexuality is wrong is not homophobia, it is an opinion.

Stop being so bloody sensitive.

[anotheoldgit]

I heard on the Radio this morning that The Gay & Lesbian (something or other) had taken their complaints to Scotland Yard, for investigation.

Blimey what next? It makes one wonder how long it will be before portraying the comedy aspect of being Gay will be banned.

I refer of course to such things as the 2 Gays in the comedy show Benidorm, 4 Puffs and a piano etc etc.

[flip_flop]

I have seen an example of the over-sensivity over this issue on this site.

Somebody posted the question "Is (insert name) gay" (I can't remember who they were asking about), and from memory there were about a dozen answers all of which were along the lines of "does it matter?" and one poster in their answer advised that they had reported the question!

Pathetic.

[sp1814]

I didn\'t know about this until this morning when I read a report about the story in the Independent.

I then got a message from a gay mate through Facebook referring to the same story, so I looked it up on the Daily Mail\'s website.

Just read it, and now, and have made a complaint to the PCC.

Had Stephen Gately not been gay, this article wouldn\'t have been written. He went out, got absolutely plastered and died. If Stephen Gately were straight, his sexuality would be irrelevent.

Because he was gay, it became an excuse for the Moir to question \'the gay lifestyle\'.

I\'m actually quite shocked that the Mail would print this article before that poor lad\'s in the grave.

But bravo to the other lads in Boyzone. I found out last night that they flew out to Spain to be with his body because they didn\'t want him to be \'alone\' after he died.

I never liked Boyzone as a band, but I have enormous respect for them as people now.

[sp1814]

ahmskunnirt and flip_flop

I think the reason why there is a lot of sensitivity is because straight people kinda like attacking, beating up and killing gays.

It doesn't really happen the other way around.

[sp1814]

"When I wrote that 'he would want to set an example to any impressionable young men who may want to emulate what they might see as his glamorous routine,' I was referring to the drugs and the casual invitation extended to a stranger," she said. "Not to the fact of his homosexuality. In writing that 'it strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships' I was suggesting that civil partnerships – the introduction of which I am on the record in supporting – have proved just to be as problematic as marriages."

Jan Moir

Absolutely pathetic.

In a week when yet another gay man has died from 'gay-bashing' this woman publishes a piece which openly encourages homophoibia and then tries to squirm out of it with the most ridiculous of excuses.

I despise the attitudes of The Daily Mail, but this is the first time that it's really made me angry.

Shameful.

[jno]

sp1814, I think one of the reasons she was able to write that nonsensical self-defence is that the original piece in the Mail never actually said 'the guy was a pervert so of course he died a perverted death'. There's a (slightly) heartening reason for this: gay-bashing actually isn't acceptable in society at large (as even the furious messages on the Mail's own website show) and therefore she had to write in 'code' - using words like hedonistic, civil unions and so on rather than 'gay' and expecting readers to understand what she was talking about. Unfortunately for her, they understood all too well, and said what they thought.

[jackthehat]

Unfortunately, ahmskunnirt, there are many people out there who would never consider attacking anyone else, UNLESS that person is gay........articles like this reinforce the perceived 'difference' between straights and gays and give the green-light for such morons to carry out physical acts of violence.

[sp1814]

ahmskunnirt

Not suggesting you ever would...but the fact remains - gays are still being beaten up and murdered by straights because of nothing else but their sexuality.

I honestly can't understand that. There is no equivalent in the gay world, is there You never hear of 'straight-bashing'.

This article by Jan Moir shows that there is no depths the Daily Mail will sink to in order to appeal to the prejudices of their readership.

[brionon]

ahmskunnirt and flip_flop

I think the reason why there is a lot of sensitivity is because straight people kinda like attacking, beating up and killing gays.
Can't you see that your remark is Straight Bashing ? Would you like to re-phrase it to ''Some straight people'' ?

[sp1814]

brionon

Agreed...it's just a small minority of straight people who like to abuse and/or kill gays.

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

//"I think the reason why there is a lot of sensitivity is because straight people kinda like attacking, beating up and killing gays."//

//"It doesn't really happen the other way around."//

Never heard of Dennis Nilsen then? They are not all squeaky clean you know.

http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/dennis-nilsen/crime;jsessionid=ED94B082A9E4D31B3D21907064B2AA1F.public1

[sp1814]

anotheoldgit

Thanks for referring back to a case which is 30 years old.

A gay psycho serial killer who kills other gay men doesn't equate with straight murderers who kill gays out of pure hate.

[rabbitygirl]

Firstly, I am annoyed that people think that because you read a certain newspaper then you go along with every word in it. What rot! Even Stephen Fry, as a result of the Jan Moir article, has said the paper would not be read by anyone with any decency. More rot!

I read this article on the day it was published - not looked it up afterwards. I get the DM and I read it and I have my opinions on what I read and - lo and behold - I disagree with stuff in it. Perhaps if I bought another paper I would sit there nodding agreement with all I read in that one.

The article was clumsy at the very least. I was surprised by what I read and not surprised by the uproar.

From what I have read, from various sources, about Stephen Gateleys death is that his partner/husband was sharing a bedroom with a Bulgarian they met that night and Gateley spent his night, and death, alone in the living room. Nothing has been said or written to dispute this, so let's go along with it.

Of course what consenting adults do with their time in their homes is no ones business but theirs. But I would hate a son of mine to find someone he loves, commits to legally, and then with the full knowledge/compliance of that loved person, invite another into that relationship. We all know affairs happen but what appears to have happened in this instance isn't right wthin a marriage. Gay or otherwise. I think response to this depends a lot on age. I'm 54 and been married a long time. I could not even imagine a conversation with my husband regarding inviting a third person into our relationship. IIt may be a long time ago, but I remember my marriage vows and they still have meaning.

Now I'm sure that Stephen Gateley approved of the arrangements on the last night of his life. I can't help thinking tho that he would have been in distress during the last minutes of his life, hence the position he has found in. His death, tragic and unassociated

[rabbitygirl]

cont/d with being gay, could have been reported as 'died in the arms of his loving husband, while in bed at their apartment...' Isn't that how we would all like to go - in the arms of someone who loved us?

My son is gay. I wish for him to be happy in a long term relationship and enjoy the commitment and love that his mum and dad have enjoyed. What's the point or meaning of a legal commitment if we treat marriage or civil partnerships in such a cavalier way? A marriage or civil partnership is a permanent legal joining of 2 people who love each other. The emphasis on each other...