I know the Feministing readership is largely US-based, so I don't know how much you would know about Stephen Gately. He was a member of Boyzone, Ireland's first boyband, and he came out as gay in 1999. He died last week at age 33 and the circumstances aren't entirely clear yet, but the official story is that it was natural causes.
Jan Moir, a columnist for the Daily Mail's in no way patronizing and stupidly named "Femail" section has written an article questioning the reports that have been given which, while cruel and insensitive perhaps, is not unusual for the press. The kicker, however, is towards the end where she 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."
Um. Are you fucking kidding me? Are you actually, truly suggesting that he died BECAUSE he was married to another man? That is so far beyond even crazy person logic that I can't begin to get my head around it. I mean, of course, it is a scientific fact that heterosexual couples live forever and ever, and no man who married a woman has ever had any kind of troubled existence.
I suppose I should be used to this sort of shit from the Daily Mail by now, and yet they keep managing to surprise me.
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What I love about this whole episode is the way the public have reacted. The Press Complaints Commission's website crashed under the weight of emails (although the PCC can't actully do anything unless Gately's family complain). Twitter and Facebook have been all over it, and not just the ultra-liberal sections. Charlie Brooker has a brilliant response up on the Guardian website - http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/16/stephen-gately-jan-moir
Part of me just wants to be snarky and point out that Elton John, John Barrowman, and yes, George Michael: all still British, all still gay, and all still alive. Ireland isn't British, but the Telegraph is.
Anyway, if it wasn't murder and it wasn't self-inflicted, Gately's mother is probably correct in assuming his death is the result of some hereditary defect. Maybe hedonism in general contributed to the timeline of Gately's death, but who's to say his hypothetical straight or asexual twin brother wouldn't have met the same end at the same age, all other aspects of lifestyle being equal?
Conditions like heart defects and brain anyeurisms can be completely invisible until they kill their human. Straight or gay, young or old doesn't matter, and the deaths are never the fault of the deceased.
It's a masterpiece of Daily Mail journalism really. She hits all the buttons - gay is wrong and dirty, older women should not show off their bodies, marginally overweight people should not show off their bodies, women should not want careers after babies. It could only have been worse if she'd said that that Louisiana JP had a point.
On the positive side, though, next time someone asks me why we even need equal rights movements any more, I have just the thing to show them.
Apparently, it's not that they're married, it's that he's gay, period, and he may use marijuana, and he and his husband had another gay male staying at their home overnight. Apparently that alone is enough to kill a person, or at least guarantee they are unhappy.
I like how they claim 33-year-olds don't just die suddenly, when his family KNOWS he had this congenital heart condition that causes exactly the condition that killed him. Apparently being gay causes you to have heart conditions?
The Press Complaints Commission may not be able to act on the complaints of unconnected parties (I'm not sure if that's the case, I'll have to check) but a complaint is never wasted. The sheer volume of complaints received will draw attention to Moir's hateful article and increase the likelihood that action will be taken.
I've complained citing a breach of clauses 1, 5 and 12 and copied my complaint to the Feeback form on the Daily Mail website, urging them to issue a public apology and her resignation. I urge all of you to do the same!
Also, get a giggle from the PCC website, which has a special link on the homepage for people wanting to complain about Moir. That's service!
It is correct that the PCC cannot act on the complaints made by third parties. However it is always right to stand up for what you believe in. And yell as loud as you can. Perhaps the 21,000 odd complaints, plus all the complaints to the Daily Hate Mail, plus all the complaints to the advertisers (most of whom have demanded their adverts be removed from the online version of this 'article', as I understand from reading The Guardian, the only paper I can read without being rather sick) will make a difference. At the very least it paves the way for us to suggest that perhaps the PCC needs to be changed so it is actually relevant.
We hear a lot in the UK, the argument that you shouldn't give publicity or draw attention to some of the vile, fascist things sneaking about our country. But I say if the response is overwhelming and against the spoutings of such idiots, as this one is, then there IS such a thing as bad publicity.
Moir should get the boot. And so should her her editor. Who by the way is the chairman of the PCC code committee. Hmmmmmmm.