The Daily Mail should retract Jan Moir's hateful, homophobic article
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Common Interest - Beliefs & Causes
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Friday 16th October's Daily Mail had a sickening column by Jan Moir, in which she makes unfounded and sickening allegations about the tragic death of Stephen Gately, before going on to bash civil partnerships and gay lifestyles.

Here is the prurient, offensive and bigoted article in all its vileness

Jpg of full article so no more hits for the DM! [updated link 19/10]

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The Daily Mail should retract Jan Moir's hateful, homophobic article

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The Daily Mail should retract Jan Moir's hateful, homophobic article
Category:
Common Interest - Beliefs & Causes
Description:
Friday 16th October's Daily Mail had a sickening column by Jan Moir, in which she makes unfounded and sickening allegations about the tragic death of Stephen Gately, before going on to bash civil partnerships and gay lifestyles.

Here is the prurient, offensive and bigoted article in all its vileness

Jpg of full article so no more hits for the DM! [updated link 19/10]

http://www.doctorwatson.info/images/dmail.jpg

Their... (read more)
Privacy Type:
Open: All content is public.

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++UPDATE++

Pls see GROUP EVENT: letter text to pressure Dacre via email to retract article.

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***** UPDATE 19/10 ******

Right, so we've potentially got the PCC looking into this despite the fact that we're not all related to Stephen. (see press release below)

PCC to consider complaints about Jan Moir column in the Daily Mail

Over the weekend, the PCC received more than 21,000 complaints about the column by Jan Moir published in the Daily Mail on Friday 16th October headlined "A strange, lonely and troubling death" and (initially) online "Why there was nothing ‘natural' about Stephen Gately's death", which discussed the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately.

These complaints follow widespread discussion of the subject on social networking sites - especially Twitter - and represent by far the highest number of complaints ever received about a single article in the history of the Commission.

The PCC generally requires the involvement of directly-affected parties in its investigations, and it has pro-actively been in touch with representatives of Boyzone - who are in contact with Stephen Gately's family - since shortly after his death. Any complaint from the affected parties will naturally be given precedence by the Commission, in line with its normal procedures.

If, for whatever reason, those individuals do not wish to make a complaint, the PCC will in any case write to the Daily Mail for its response to the more general complaints from the public before considering whether there are any issues under the Code to pursue.

As the PCC will not be in a position to engage in direct correspondence with every complainant, it is issuing this statement to make clear what action it will be taking. It will make a further public statement when it has considered the matter.

BUT OUR WORK IS NOT YET DONE!

Remember, our goal is to get the Mail to retract the article. Draft letter below, please amend to your satisfaction and then either post or email to Paul Dacre. We want his inbox overloaded and the postmen spending their last day at work carting sacks of letters to him!

Dear Mr Dacre

I am writing to urge you to retract Jan Moir’s article about Stephen Gately (originally entitled ‘Nothing ‘natural’ about Stephen Gately’s death’) published in the Daily Mail on Friday 16th October 2009.

I am deeply disappointed that you found it fit to publish such odious material about a young man’s death, particularly on the eve of his funeral, causing additional distress to his family at a very painful time.

In particular, I objected to the following:
"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."

This is factually incorrect and baseless allegation. The results of a post mortem confirmed he died of “natural causes by acute pulmonary oedema”. A court reporter confirmed, “Stephen's death has nothing to do any alcohol he drank that night, it has nothing to do with drugs and he did not choke on his own vomit,” she said. Furthermore, according to the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (c-r-y.org.uk), twelve apparently fit and healthy young people die in the UK from undiagnosed heart conditions every single week.

And also the following:

“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. … 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.”

I am at a loss to understand as to how Gately’s tragic death ‘strikes a blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships’. And what the link is between Gately’s death from natural causes and Kevin McGee’s suicide is, I cannot begin to fathom. I assume Ms Moir’s mind sinks to depths of depravity I am unfamiliar with. And let’s remember that being heterosexual and married (and even female) is no guarantee of moral superiority or emotional wellbeing – Vanessa George was a married mother. So was Rosemary West.

I understand that the PCC will investigate the matter in response to the unprecedented number of complaints received about the article. In recognition of this, and of the fact that this article was at best ill-judged and at worst, malevolent, I urge you to consider your position and retract the article in advance of that investigation.

Yours