UPDATED
Jan Moir, a columnist for the right-leaning British paper Daily Mail, has penned a disgusting homophobic opinion column about late Boyzone star Stephen Gately, whose sudden death over the weekend was announced to be the result of natural causes.
Moir has come under fire for using the occasion of Gately's death to slam the gay "lifestyle" and the "happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships". Writes Moir:
"Something is terribly wrong with the way this
incident has been shaped and spun into nothing more than an unfortunate
mishap on a holiday weekend, like a broken teacup in the rented
cottage. Consider the way it has been largely reported, as
if Gately had gently keeled over at the age of 90 in the grounds of the
Bide-a-Wee rest home while hoeing the sweet pea patch. The
sugar coating on this fatality is so saccharine-thick that it obscures
whatever bitter truth lies beneath. Healthy and fit 33-year-old men do
not just climb into their pyjamas and go to sleep on the sofa, never to
wake up again. Whatever the cause of death is, it is not, by any yardstick, a
natural one. Let us be absolutely clear about this. All that has been
established so far is that Stephen Gately was not murdered. And
I think if we are going to be honest, we would have to admit that the
circumstances surrounding his death are more than a little sleazy. After
a night of clubbing, Cowles and Gately took a young Bulgarian man back
to their apartment. It is not disrespectful to assume that a game of
canasta with 25-year-old Georgi Dochev was not what was on the cards. Cowles and Dochev went to the bedroom together while Stephen remained alone in the living room. What happened before they parted is known only to the two men still alive. What happened afterwards is anyone's guess."
And finally, Moir writes:
"Another real sadness about Gately's death is that it strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships. Gay
activists are always calling for tolerance and understanding about
same-sex relationships, arguing that they are just the same as
heterosexual marriages. Not everyone, they say, is like George Michael.
Of course, in many cases this may be true. Yet the recent
death of Kevin McGee, the former husband of Little Britain star Matt
Lucas, and now the dubious events of Gately's last night raise
troubling questions about what happened. It is important that the truth comes out about the exact circumstances of his strange and lonely death. As
a gay rights champion, I am sure 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. For once again, under the carapace
of glittering, hedonistic celebrity, the ooze of a very different and
more dangerous lifestyle has seeped out for all to see."
The Guardian reports: "Moir's name charted over Britain on real-time Twitter mapping tool Trendsmap and a Facebook page has been set up asking the Daily Mail to 'retract Jan Moir's hateful, homophobic article'. In addition it provides phone numbers to contact brands with ads appearing alongside Moir's piece on the Mail website. Celebrities are also weighing in. On Twitter, Derren Brown has urged people to "complain where it matters", with a link to the Press Complaints Commission website; while Stephen Fry tweeted: 'I gather a repulsive nobody writing in a paper no one of any decency
would be seen dead with has written something loathsome and inhumane.'"
UPDATE: Jan Moir has responded — "In what is clearly a heavily orchestrated internet campaign I think it
is mischievous in the extreme to suggest that my article has homophobic
and bigoted undertones."
