BRITAIN'S LEADING gay rights group Stonewall has lambasted the Press Complaints Commission, following its decision not to punish the Daily Mailover a columnist's article about the late Boyzone singer, Stephen Gately.
In the article, published a day before Gately's funeral in Dublin, Mailcolumnist Jan Moir wrote: "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,” she went on.
The PCC found that the Mailhad just "failed to cross the line" and breach the PCC's Code of Practice, and said in its ruling that it was "uncomfortable with the tenor of the columnist's remarks".
Expressing “huge sympathy” for Gately’s civil partner, Andrew Cowles, the PCC chairman Peta Bunscombe said the 17-strong body had thought “very hard” before reaching a ruling.
“A lot of this has to do with context and this very important principle we had to face: the extent to which newspapers’ columnists should be free to publish what many will see as unpalatable and unpleasant stories,” she said.
However, the gay rights group Stonewall said the decision was “a sad outcome. Jan Moir’s article on the tragic death of Stephen Gately was deeply offensive, deliberately timed to coincide with Stephen’s funeral.
“Not only did Stephen’s partner find the article incredibly distressing, but a record number of people were moved to complain too, some 25,000. Stonewall would hesitate to send any lesbian or gay person towards the PCC with any confidence they would uphold their complaint,” said the group.
“If Jan Moir had made similar comments about a black or Jewish person, and disparaged their race and community, the PCC would have ruled against her. She may well have been arrested and charged with inciting racial hatred.
“Why is the PCC adopting double standards on homophobia?” he asked.
Meanwhile, the UK's criminal prosecuting authority, the Crown Prosecution Service, has decided that there is insufficient evidence to prosecute the columnist and the Daily Mail.