LGF reports Daily Mail's Jan Moir for incitement to hatred
20 Oct 2009
The Lesbian & Gay Foundation have made a report to the Metropolitan Police over columnist Moir's shocking article
As reported earlier today by many news outlets including the LGF, The Daily Mail's Jan Moir published an opinion piece today which was nothing short of a character assassination of the late Stephen Gately. We believe it incites gay hatred and encourages those who would seek to attack gay people to be even more judgmental as well as fuel existing homophobia and intolerance of the gay community in general.
We perceive that this constitutes a hate incident and as such has been reported to the Metropolitan Police.
We will of course keep people up-to-date, both here on LGF Online and through Twitter, as it unfolds but what makes us sad is that this topic has arisen in such bad taste what with Stephen Gately's funeral being tomorrow.
The Lesbian & Gay Foundation’s Chief Executive Paul Martin said: “Everyone at the Lesbian & Gay Foundation is appalled and very disappointed. The death of Stephen Gately at such a young age is a tragedy and should be treated as such. Instead, Moir’s sweeping generalisations have not only insulted the singer, his partner and his family, but the lesbian, gay, and bisexual community as a whole. This incident highlights the ongoing challenge organisations like the LGF have in combating homophobia.
“We, of course, send our deepest condolences to Stephen’s husband, family and friends.”
A response from us at the LGF
Andrew Gilliver, Communications Manager at The Lesbian & Gay Foundation says, "There is no doubt in my mind after reading the entire article that in reporting on the death of Stephen Gately the author is offering a suggestion that his lifestyle as a gay man contributed to his death.
This offensive article has been highlighted by thousands of people as inflammatory and inciting hatred to the gay community as it insults Gately and his partner as well as the validity of civil partnerships and infers that Mr Gatley (and in turn the gay community) is not possible of dying a death from natural causes at such a young age.
Since the story was made public there has been a national outcry with hundreds of complaints on the Daily Mail website plus online forums and especially Twitter. Many people have been complaining to The Press Complaints Commission and I believe this story can be perceived to incite hatred against gay people; it encourages those who would seek to attack gay people to be even more judgemental and fuel existing homophobia and intolerance of the gay community. I believe that this is a homophobic hate incident.
By definition...
A hate incident is defined as:
'Any incident,which may or may not constitute a criminal offence, which is perceived by the victim or any other person, as being motivated by prejudice or hate.'
If anyone read the actual newspaper article on Jan Moir's opinion page the tagline says 'Are you thinking what she's thinking?'
Therefore as this is a tabloid newspaper I believe that the intention was to incite prejudice against gay people and we all know that many people already have these thoughts which can and do lead to further attacks and violence against members of the gay and lesbian community.
This is not an objection to free speech or freedom of the press. What is needed here is to encourage members of the press, opinion writers, anyone who has a public platform such as Jan Moir to think about what they are saying before they commit to something that they will have to justify, after it has upset thousands of people and caused untold damage.
It would be interesting to speculate what this opinion would look like if Stephen Gately was not gay.
We must firstly pay tribute to him and send our condolences to his partner, family and friends and we must stand up for ourselves and our own community to say that we will not tolerate articles such as this which we believe are hurtful, prejudiced and tap into part of the community that does not wish us well.
Remember - if we do not stand up for ourselves then who will?
Make your complaint heard
The Press Complaints Commission is an independent organisation monitoring British newspapers and magazines to ensure they adhere to ethical guidelines. As tweeter kenrayner says, "[Jan Moir] breaches 1, 3, 5 & 12 of the code". The online complaints form is located here.
You can also email in your complaint to: complaints@pcc.org.uk
Post your comment
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The overwhelming condemnation and ridicule Mrs Moir has faced as a consequence for her stupidity, and extraordinary claims about civil partnerships, shows that we do not tolerate homophobia.
All you have to do, is demand the evidence for her claims. She's been exposed, that's that.
As far as her ill-timed, comments on Gately's death are concerned, she's free to speculate. That's a matter between her and Gately's family.
Bt if you report this, then at least show consistency, and report every single religious cleric to the police for their stupid teachings on homosexuality, which are an attack on the dignity and integrity of every single LGBT person in the country.
To claim Moir's comments might inspire murder, is as wild as claiming that the death of a mediochre singer has anything to say about gay relationships across the United Kingdom.
But worst of all, by rushing to chop down the laws of free speech to shut people up, you actually deny anyone changing their opinion - including hers, and other nutcases like her. Who is then, 'part of the problem', Marc? With BNP support reportedly edging towards 20 percent, it's a question you should consider very carefully.
Posted by Adrian Tippetts, 24/10/2009 11:34pm (11 months ago)
Marc here from the LGF. Hello to Adrian who my comment is addressing.
We reported it as a hate incident, not a hate crime specifically because we perceived it as "being motivated by prejudice or hate" which it most surely was.
The Jan Moir article is stupid, nasty and evil. Perhaps heavier on the stupid than the other two elements but all the same.
She is denigrating me and every other gay man in a long term relationship with her unfounded supposition, she is also insulting a good man's memory and on top of all of that causing distress to already upset and grieving family, friends and fans.
If this had been done on such a public stage to someone from another minority strand this would NOT have been tolerated.
If you can truthfully say that you find nothing homophobic about what she said then you are blind. If you do perceive any of it to be homophobic and you are not reporting it in my opinion you are part of the problem.
Posted by Marc, 24/10/2009 5:32pm (11 months ago)
Sorry, I don't agree with this action, which will fail in any case, because there is no incitement to hatred in Moir's comments.
Jan Moir's comments were spiteful, and stupid, because she implied the death of one celebrity in some way might reflect the state of hundreds of thousands of gay relationships in the United Kingdom.
Nasty, half-baked and ill thought out though they were, her comments do not constitute hate speech. She hurt a lot of feelings, but in democracy, there is no right to be immune from hurt feelings. I despise what she said,m but I defend to the death her right tosay it.
She wrote nonsense, had her say. And so did the nation, and the advertisers.
But I'm sorry, a hate crime, her comments are not, and with due respect I hope the police find better things to do.
You make a rod for your own back when you down freedom of speech every time you hear something you don't like.
Posted by Adrian Tippetts, 24/10/2009 2:44pm (11 months ago)
It was a disgustingly vile piece of homophobia, even I as a straight man picked that up easily enough. Her insinuation that it was his gay lifestyle that contributed to his death was staggering. Her suggestion that gay lifestyles in general were sleazy was also vile. Yes, many gay and men and women do indulge in behaviour some may find shocking but so do many, many straight couples even in Jan Moir's extended family I would be willing to bet. Her so called apology was just as bad, she pretty much said those disgusted were from the gay communities, in that case why was I, and thousands of others disgusted?. I thought we were living in the 21st century not in some throwback to the 1950s!.
Posted by KevinH, 20/10/2009 9:51pm (11 months ago)
Thank you for reporting Jan Moir's article to the Metropolitan Police. Free speech is one thing, but manufacturing facts about someone who has recently died and can't defend themselves, and rampant homophobia, are quite different.
With the recent murder of a gay man in the very heart of London, it is clear that hate crimes against gay people are never far away, and articles such as Moir's help to fuel hate crimes such as this.
All the best,
Posted by Mark, Edinburgh, 19/10/2009 3:35pm (11 months ago)
It seems like the LGF have grown a set of balls in recent months, not afraid of standing up and saying something.
I don't know who or what has changed there but I'm impressed.
Keep up the good work!!
Posted by David L, 19/10/2009 11:14am (11 months ago)
I've never felt so strongly about anything before so much so that i have made a complaint to the PCC and to The Metropolitan Police as well. This woman is vile and should be brought to justice as, not only has she used a national newspaper to publish her own pathetic, antuiqated views...she has broken the law by enciting hatred towards a minority group as well as slandering the reputation of someone who never hurt anyone and is not even here to defend himself. I urge all of you to make a complaint to the Police and get this woman charged
Posted by Barry Stevens, 18/10/2009 2:51pm (11 months ago)
I dont like Jan Moir's article at all. It was very bad journalism -non factual, full of assumptions and also very insensitive to the family and friends of the deceased but how does it amount to incitement to hatred legally? this is a serious question -I am interested to know what the legal constituents of the crime are, and how they are made out in this instance. Thank you.
Posted by kit, 18/10/2009 11:32am (11 months ago)
Jan Moir is a disgrace....Sexuality has nothing to do with the death of the amazing Stephen Gately. The way he chose to live his private life is nobodys business and being a gay woman myself it is certainly NOT just 'GAY' people who choose to live their life in such a way.
People are going to rumour about Stephen as he was in the public eye; but i think Jan needs to get into the real world and stop making ridiculous assumptions about something she clearly has no idea about.
Posted by Caz, 17/10/2009 2:43pm (11 months ago)
It is utterly disgraceful that this article smears Mr Gately - suggesting that drugs, alcohol, or promiscuity are the causal factors in his death when, it currently appears, there is no evidence to support such views. It is utterly disgraceful that this writer should suggest a link between the circumstances of Mr Gateley's death and there being something intrinsically terminal about civil partnerships.
"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". (Jan Moir) These remarks are repellant, ugly, and homophobic; the writer should apologise publicly to the Gately family, his bereaved partner, and be removed from the place she currently writes this trash and made to wash dishes in a homeless shelter to teach her some humility!
Posted by Sam de Croy, 17/10/2009 1:41pm (11 months ago)
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