H/T OH – what’s pink and square & goes round and round?

I don’t like the Daily Mail’s line, but the natural causes story is bullshit. Barely anyone at the age of 33 can die in their sleep without something quite catastrophic having gone wrong.

Is there a limit to the shameful, distasteful, hate-soaked drivel the Daily Mail can put into print?

If there is, we haven’t found it yet.

PCC’s website won’t connect, that’s how quickly this has gone viral again. Looking forward to finally getting on there.

I need to withdraw my comment at 2. I hadn’t heard about the hereditary link with his condition. Apologies.

@2

Actually it’s entirely possible and it happens at any age. A friend of my parents died in their early 40s – it was ruled as sudden death syndrome, an adult equivalent to cot death.

@2:

I don’t like the Daily Mail’s line, but the natural causes story is bullshit. Barely anyone at the age of 33 can die in their sleep without something quite catastrophic having gone wrong.

Er… I think if he died then its fairly safe to say that something quite catastrophic DID go wrong, Socrates. Jeez…

Sudden Death Syndrome is a medically recognised phenomenon which can happen at any age.

I can still recall a tragic event from my school days in the 1950s when a young chap, in his mid teens, collapsed and died from a brain haemorrhage during a PE session in the school gym. It was all completely unexpected.

Even if it was ‘unnatural’ – which in this case probably would’ve meant getting steaming drunk and choking on his own puke – is that meant to be particularly contemptible, or something that only gay people do?

Sudden adult death syndrome is not common but it is not rare either
http://www.sadsuk.org/

The untimely death of Stephen Gately presented the MSM with a chance to say more, and dare I say even educate us about this devastating condition.

But for Moir & Co the heady combination of celebrity and tragedy proved too great a temptation to contain their ‘little-england’ tendencies.

Superannuated finger waggers, like Moir, should be forced to go on the road with Boyzone then dragged out in front of the audience every night while excerpts from her tawdry article are projected onto the stage.

Superannuated finger waggers, like Moir, should be forced to go on the road with Boyzone then dragged out in front of the audience every night while excerpts from her tawdry article are projected onto the stage.

Can’t we just skip the final chapter, where she’s laid out dead on the couch enduring autopsy-by-media-conjecture before she’s even buried.

Sorry, i’ll get me coat.

My brother in law is a gp. Pulmonary oedema is a not uncommon cause of sudden death in young men aged 27-36. Usually out of the blue, with no obvious cause. So yes, 33-year-old men do just die sometimes.

He hee, Sy [11] – imagine if medical staff looking after Moir were gay, and some were even married – that would be enough to finish her off, surely?

@2 “I don’t like the Daily Mail’s line, but the natural causes story is bullshit. Barely anyone at the age of 33 can die in their sleep without something quite catastrophic having gone wrong.”

I saw your edited apology but nevertheless I have to comment on this. A friend of mine in his early thirties died of a completely unexpected pulmonary embolism. Natural causes might have a certain association with the elderly but it can certainly be a term used for a young person who died of an undiagnosed and unpredictable illness.

And some backpeddling going on as Charlie Brooker spotted. Look at the headlines and right hand side of the first pic, second pic , and third pic.

Basically, any of us – no matter how young and healthy we are – could kick the bucket at any moment. All the more reason to rid our society of hateful attitudes such as those displayed by Ms Moir in her article. I don’t to have to spend my possibly short amount of time in this world alongside her bigotry and twisted reasoning.

Does anyone have a link to the original article before the rewrite?

@2, 5: A fit healthy friend of mine died at suddenly at 36. No rare hereditary condition. Just dropped down dead. Very sad.
What frolix22 said.

Yes, just browsing Behr et als work
http://heart.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/93/5/601

Now according to this lot there are 500 UK cases of SADS each year.
The mean average age of death was 32yrs of age (SG was almost bang on this age).
63% deaths occurred amongst males – unsurprisingly the authors conclude, “Deaths from SADS occur predominantly in young males”.

Curiously I could find no mention of civil marriage as a ‘risk factor’ for SADS in this particular study ………….. strange?

Does anyone have a link to the original article before the rewrite?

Unless anyone took a full copy, then no.

The Mail (and other tabloids) have their sites rigged to prevent Google caching their articles, although a search on the URL turns up this:

“Why there was nothing ‘natural’ about Stephen Gately’s death …

16 Oct 2009 … Our columnist asks why no-one will face up to the sordid reality of the Boyzone star’s demise.”

What a strange article. How does a sudden death ‘strike a blow to the myth of happy civil partnerships’ any more than a sudden death within a heterosexual marriage do the equivalent?

I think Stephen Fry has nailed it spot on Twitter:

“I gather a repulsive nobody writing in a paper no one of any decency would be seen dead with has written something loathesome and inhumane.”

Her article is beyond stupid, is just downright awful, insensitive and hateful. She deserves any backlash from this.

“Anger over Mail column on Gately ”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8311499.stm

Unity, does this count?
http://bit.ly/3BVPqc

http://www.catcha.co.uk/maila.jpg

This is a copy of the original article

Would Jan Moir say that husbands beating the crap out of their wives strikes a blow to the myth of happy heterosexual marriage? Its as equally bonkers.

This morning Brighton’s Nikki Bayley (@nikkib on Twitter) made one of the first complaints in the country about the Daily Mail’s vile columnist Jan Moir and here cowardly homophobic attack on Stephen Gately. Here’s the Press Complaints Commission’s response http://tiny.cc/aPipa

I just read the article and it is literally ridiculous. Jan Moir has just nominated herself for the Biggest Moron in the World award and she is going to win by a landslide victory. Congratulations imbecile!

She finds it impossible to conceive that a gay man in his thirties could die of natural causes; and all these “Doctors”, with their so called “Medical Science Degrees” performing their airy fairy “Post-mortem examinations” are stupid to think that he could’ve died from something that isn’t a direct result of a, bigoted and misinformed stereotype of a, homosexual lifestyle. He probably just got so excited thinking about men’s bums he had a heart attack eh Jan?

Jan Moir is an idiot.quite simply an offensively stupid idiot!

It would be nice to think, Nick, that today might have taught you something about charging on to the comments threat of LC, reactionary contrarianism blazing, and shooting off your STUPID BIG MOUTH before you know what the fuck you’re talking about.

Sadly, we know it won’t, don’t we?

Hang on guys, if you read this article in depth it’s not anti-gay. Jan makes 3 main points; that Stephen Gateley’s death seems to have strange undertones with allegations of drugs and sharing beds with random men; that the same as male/female marriages, civil cremonies are not the ticket to a dream life as they are often portrayed; and thirdly behind the glitter of celebrity is often sleaze. None of these points are homophobic

I’m struggling to see how this has been taken with so much offence by so many intelligent people although I do think Jan’s timing is poor and right now we should be mourning the tragic death of a talented man rather than asking questions

“…that the same as male/female marriages, civil cremonies are not the ticket to a dream life as they are often portrayed.”

But she chose to question the coroner’s report with no evidence to back up her claim (or at least none that she wanted to disclose); and she referred to civil partnerships but not marriage… so defending her on the grounds that she was making a comparison between the two doesn’t hold up.

And now she’s even calling herself the victim of an “orchestrated internet campaign.”

Not only contemptible, but delusional too.

@James, I was going to point out the homophobic parts but the same points have been made better here:

http://tabloid-watch.blogspot.com/2009/10/jan-moir-homophobic-bigot.html

I’m completely disgusted by this, happy ever afters can happen for anyone, not just Heterosexuals, I’m a gay woman myself and to be honest, I’ve had less worries since I came out, so heterosexuality isnt all its cracked up to be when a person is homosexual. I’d like to add at this point I have nothing against Straight people, each to there own
I was a huge fan of Boyzone when I was younger and Stephen Gately is sadly missed by myself and I know a lot of others, death does sometimes happen out of the blue, and I see no link from this to the fact that he’s gay!
I hope we one day rid the world of any type of discrimination and the papers will stop sinking so low!!!

Is George Michael really so bad anyway? Unless I’m missing something all he did was have sex in a semi-public place – the ‘mile-high club’ etc. is viewed innocuosly enough when heterosexuals are participating.

please put jan moir on question time next thursday along with the leader of the BNP. that will be very interesting… the stuck up woman should fit in well!!!!!!!

Time to pay our disrespects

Regular readers of my blog (www.p0pvulture.blogspot.com) will know that there is little love lost between me and the Daily Mail, a paper so filled with bile and vitriol it takes half a pack of Settlers Tums to get past page four. However, this week, it’s bloated harridan Jan Moir’s turn in the spotlight, giving Amanda Platell a well-earned week off.

Since Sunday’s shocking news about Stephen Gately’s death at the age of 33, celebrities of every shape and size have come forward to pay their respects to the mild-mannered boy-bander. Tantrum-throwing hairpiece model Elton John called Stephen “the kindest, gentlest soul”, whilst silver ocelot (well, ‘fox’ seems a bit of a stretch) Philip Schofield said “Poor Stephen. He was a really lovely guy.”

A-to-Z list tributes aside, it’s clear that Stephen’s bandmates have taken the news hardest, pledging to stage an overnight vigil with his body, and displaying new tattoos in honour of their fallen comrade.

With no foul play, no evidence of hard drug use, and no suicide note, the Spanish authorities quickly determined that Gately died of natural causes, affording his family sufficient closure to concentrate on their grief. But it seems that there’s no smoke without ire, at least not if you’re veteran columnist and homophobic hack Jan Moir.

Proving that beauty may be skin deep, but ugly runs all the way through, Moir wrote a spectacularly offensive article, originally entitled “Why there was nothing natural about Stephen Gately’s death”. Bizarrely, the article managed to inflame even the cast-iron sensibilities of the Mail’s regular readers, and was promptly renamed “A strange, lonely and troubling death . . .” (which is a little like declaring a gun amnesty, only to swap the firearms for knives).

In a hateful piece littered with speculation, hearsay and plain ignorance, Moir posits that to label Stephen’s death as ‘natural’ is to overlook the ‘unnnatural’ aspects of his life. And it doesn’t take a genius to work out that, when talking about unnatural behaviour, she doesn’t mean covering old Cat Stevens songs.

She’s far more concerned with the fact that Gately and his husband Andrew Cowles had picked up a young Bulgarian at a nightclub and invited him back to their apartment in Mallorca. Describing these circumstances as “more than a little sleazy” this real-world Dolores Umbridge uses the situation to condemn “the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships”. In her beady eyes, the activists who call for ‘tolerance and understanding about same-sex relationships’ are wrong to suggest that they are just the same as straight marriages. And in this sense she’s right, but not in the way that she thinks.

Denied full equality, many gay people have instead taken the opportunity to define the parameters of their own relationships. Rather than looking for mainstream approval, they simply do what works for them, and as long as it remains honest and consensual, what right does anyone else have to criticise them for it?

If she was looking for notoriety, Moir certainly got her wish, with hundreds of people taking to Twitter and Facebook to voice their disgust. Even more visited the Press Complaints Commission website, which crashed under the sheer weight of traffic. Advertisers Marks & Spencer and Nestle were also quick to distance themselves from the controversy, insisting that their ads be removed from the online version of the article.

Although calls have been made for Moir to be sacked, it’s unlikely that any of the invertebrates at the Daily Mail will develop enough of a spine to do the right thing, so we need to find an appropriate method of counterattack.

In the truly repellent final paragraph of her article, Moir writes that an “ooze of a very different and more dangerous lifestyle has seeped out for all to see” without ever specifiying what other slimy fluid she’s referring to. But I think we all have a good idea.

In 2003, gay American humorist Dan Savage decided to name the ‘seeping ooze’ after bigoted right wing senator Rick Santorum. The sexual neologism he created spread quickly and soon passed into common parlance, but only within the continental United States where the name had any kind of relevance.

Perhaps what’s needed here is a similar kind of ‘tribute’. Who agrees that Jan deserves to have that same ooze named in honour of her? After all, Americans have elevators and candy, we have lifts and sweets. We’re two nations divided by a common language. Let’s bring that tradition into the 21st century.

“But in a statement Moir said it was “mischievous” to suggest her article had homophobic undertones.”

She’s right there was no undertones just straight bigotry.

You know even if he had died of heart failure having snorted 10 lines of coke off 3 14 year old rent boys her comments would still be extremely bigoted trying to extrapolate a line of “reasoning” about one person’s death to label gay people and civil partnership. As it turns out she was factually inaccurate.

I cannot wait for her attack on heterosexual marriage if Amy Winehouse were to die an early death. Actually I lie I could avoid anything this person writes.

I’d write about how larger westerners are disproportionately contributing to global warming but I probably give Ms Moir 100 pounds.

Sadly I think the Mail will be happy or maybe was happy a million tweets ago. Most of their stories are designed to reassure bigots and make those bigots the victims of Liberals and PC machinations. Hence their child like attempt to call the outcry co-ordinated – that really is sad!

I don’t mean to excuse Jan Moir for the disgusting crap she’s written.

But let’s not forget that nothing is written in the Mail that Paul Dacre doesn’t want written. This was either written at his express ask or he read it and approved it. By all means attack Jan Moir but make sure he shares the credit.

Is it really necessary to turn this into weight bigotry? Unless there’s evidence of a causal link between being overweight and homophobic it’s totally unnecessary.

Pretty disgusting article by Moir, but just because many people are completely relaxed about homosexuality, doesn’t mean that you’re ever going to get everyone to be so liberal about all aspects of gay life. I was in Soho in London last saturday afternoon and the atmosphere in the gay pubs seems nice and friendly, but to other people, the men in there would offend their sense of machismo.

I add this link with a warning. It’s from a football fans website, and this thread was about the death of Stephen Gately. It’s dreadfuly homophobic and I only include it because you may never actually come across people like this in day-to-day life, but it’s how many people still are.
http://www.millwall.vitalfootball.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=37171&start=1

On another thread on that website some time ago, one guy complained that he liked to watch Eastenders and Coronation Street, but that the gay characters were putting him off his dinner. (Made him feel ill or something).
Could their loathing of homosexuality be put down to a cultural disconnect?

I think it’s understandable that some people find the gay bathouse scene to be crass.
If you are generally conservative about sexuality, you will find that, and what George Michael gets up to on Hampstead Heath difficult to fathom.

Could someone at LC run up a quick ‘Amnesty-Style’ guide to complaining to the PCC; ie. with all relevant information so we can input it quickly into the complaints form?

[45] try here, Varus.
http://www.pcc.org.uk/complaints/process.html

According to Charlie Brooker, Moir’s turd-burger breaches sections 1, 5 and 12 of the Press Complaints Commission’s code of practice.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/16/stephen-gately-jan-moir

i cannot believe how crass and insensative this woman is. who does she think she is to make such an awful remark about stephen gatley.s death . has she not heaed of sudden death syndrome . its bad enough what she said but to say it on the day his body was brought home was awful. she should be sacked. i am a 65 year old pensioner who loved boyzone and stephen gatley was my favourite.i am disgusted at her she should hang her head in shame.

I seem to remember a very talented comedy actor called Richard Beckinsale (Rising Damp) dying in his sleep – he was in his early 30. Don’t think there was anything suspicious surrounding that death, so it does happen!

Yesterday morning Brighton’s Nikki Bayley (@nikkib on Twitter) made one of the first complaints in the country about the Daily Mail’s vile columnist Jan Moir and here cowardly homophobic attack on Stephen Gately. Here’s the Press Complaints Commission’s response http://tiny.cc/aPipa

Jan Moir probably had things like this in mind when she wrote that Daily Mail article.
http://www.gaytoz.com/saunas.asp

What people think of this aspect of gay culture I’d find more interesting.
It’s all very well slamming people as homophobes, but a lot of people will never get this kind of thing … which I think is pretty mainstream within the everyday gay culture.

Go into a gay bar or pub and I think that a lot of the men there will have at one time been in this gay sauna or sex cinema environment. The kind of places where sex takes place on the premises.

Looking at the Sparticus Gay Guide, there does seem to be a whole culture going on there that a lot of people might not really understand.
http://www.spartacusworld.com/gayguide/

I do find it disappointing that the left think that everyone should get every aspect of everyone elses culture.

On the tube today there wers a couple of muslim teenagers wearing full muslim dress.
Chatting just like anybody else, but I’m sure they’d never get the Sparticus lifestyle.
Maybe because they were teenagers it would be inappropriate to even tell them that there was a gay way of living. But no one thought not to indoctrinate them into a religion.

Its’ good to be amongst fellow liberals, but I think it can also be a bit of a cul-de-sac.
Because anyone who isn’t quite liberal comes across a a monster, even though they are infact pretty mainstream in the wider society.

It’s all very well slamming people as homophobes, but a lot of people will never get this kind of thing …

Well that’s fine. But if they could just avoid moving from “I don’t get it”, to taking a huge crap on a freshly laid grave, then they might not get slammed as homophobes quite so often.

Anyway, since you seem to believe that the average gay man wakes up in the morning, consults the Spartacus Gay Guide, and thinks “how many men can I fuck a toilet today”, I’d suggest your opinions about what’s “mainstream within the everyday gay culture” are totally worthless.

I completly agree that Jan Moir’s comments were rotten.
It was the wrong thing to say about this man at this time (or anytime perhaps).

I’m just not trying to airbrush homosexuality in all it’s glory.
Mainstream gay culture (or one aspect of it at least) is rampantly sexual.
I’ve been in gay clubs in Key West Florida where there were TVs above the bar showing gay porn. And seen in Montreal the cinemas where you get a condom given to you when you pay to go in. Don’t try to play down the cruising sexual culture. It’s integral.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7Ampu8jxP8

But I understand it’s much more than that too. Gay venues are usully just nice places to be in. Some of the pubs in Soho in London are really laid back spaces. I like to go in to them, even if it’s only to use the loo.
I’ve been to the gay pride marches a few times, but I think I agree with the author of this book:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/queer-london-by-matt-houlbrook-506170.html

I do feel that the rush to normalise homosexuality is an attempt to take the fun out of it.
Whats wrong with it being a bit queer?

I don’t know how many of you saw Jan Moir’s recent Daily Mail article about the death of Stephen Gately; whilst homophobic in the extreme, it was not uniquely hateful. This week, the Ugandan MP David Bahati recently launched an Anti-Homosexuality Bill – yes, it’s actually called that – even though homosexuality is already illegal in the state. The bill:

1. Mandates the death penalty for HIV-positive people who engage in sex with people of the same gender;
2. Calls for Uganda to withdraw from all international treaties and conventions which support the rights of lesbians, gays and bisexuals;
3. Introduces extradition arrangements for Ugandan citizens who perform ‘homosexual acts’ abroad
4. Includes legal penalties for people who fail to report alleged homosexual acts or individuals and institutions that promote homosexuality or same-sex marriage to the authorities.

The tabling of the bill has been accompanied by threats against any Ugandan media organisation that allows LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) Ugandans to air their views or publish press statements.

Full details can be seen here: http://bit.ly/9FFF4. The article also speculates about the motives for the bill, and is an excellent read. Please do have a look, when you have a moment.

Parden, What was that, stephen gately and his partner brou ght another man home to play tiddle winks.the night stephen died. is that right. ok and them 2 went into the bedroom and left stephen to die alone and was in a kneeling postion. when found dead in the morning.it was claim that he chocked which gave him a heart attack. ok. whatever. so far. why was he not in bed with his partner. why didnt any one hear him chock uuuummmmmm there rare more question i would like to ask my lv and respect to stephen family and friends

Drop Jan a line!

If you didn’t like her nasty little article in the Daily Moll, feel free to contact her directly at:

jan.moir@dailymail.co.uk

Send as many emails as you like, I’m sure Jan would *love* to hear from you all!

yes i agree with the last comment made . about stephen gately. found in a kneeling position. and he was a gay man. and he chocked to death in his sleep possablty. alone while his husband was in the bedroom with another man. is the story. right so far. no one hear him chock i have C.O.P.D. and every one hear s me when i have a attack of flem chocking me to death. which can give me a heart attack. but if i had a partner. and he was in the bedroom with another person. well no one there to help ya ya ya ya it does sound all odd to me. my thought are with the family and friends of stephen gately.

I assume choke is what the two above meant by Choke. As I made clear had he died in the most prurient way it would not have made a jot of difference to the bigotry of her piece – it was her extrapolation from those events to damn all gay people.

Why do you want to know exactly what other people were doing? It’s the sick fascination about the lives of other people that is disturbing. Moir was just doing a job to say to weak people that their deep loathing of homosexuals was correct. Whereas your speculation is prurient obsessive nastiness of the worst order.

From your inability to spell phlegm and choke I could assume a lot and be insulting. I won’t be as I do not know either of you. Save to say your comments are irrelevant to this discussion and judged on the link one of you supplied spam.

Moir, who has won a British Press Award, made a statement defending her column late on Friday, saying it was not her intention to offend, blaming a “heavily orchestrated internet campaign” for the furore and adding that it was “mischievous in the extreme to suggest that my article has homophobic and bigoted undertones”.

1. Pointless attempting to defend the column – it was indefensible, and Jan Moir’s attempts only raise further questions about her judgment.

2. If there was an orchestrated internet campaign (which I doubt) I and others with whom I have discussed this, were not involved. We were quite simply, and separately, appalled by the sheer gratuitous hatefulness of what we had read.

3. Suggestions of homophobia and bigotry are not mischievous: There is simply no other way to interpret Ms Moir’s article, than as a vicious, ignorant, nudge-nudge-this-is-what-happens-if-you’re-gay-and you-have-sex attack on Stephen Gately in particular and on homosexuals in general, with never a thought to the pain she was bound to cause his grieving friends and family.

Larry Teabag @ 51:

….I’d suggest your opinions about what’s “mainstream within the everyday gay culture” are totally worthless.

Well yes maybe, though I do on occasion frequent gay pubs.

This guy who is the editor of this gay website in Australia:
http://outrate.net/

…. said this about the Stephen Gately issue:

”Stop presenting gays as whiter than white”
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/7588/

He says ”that beneath her prejudice and inaccuracy, Jan Moir kind of had a point.”.

Now I know that views like this are being called contrarian, but he goes on to say this:

The problem is not with Gately’s and his partner’s behaviour per se but with the deliberate crafting of the gay public image which runs so directly against the relatively normal and fairly harmless but nowadays desperately concealed sex and party lives of many typical gay men.

It reminded me of the Simon Fanshawe documentary ”The trouble with gay men” (which seems to have disappeared off youtube), but this was his argument:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/apr/21/gayrights.comment

….. which itself was seriously crticised by some other gay people:

http://www.marksimpson.com/blog/2006/05/04/the-trouble-with-men-mark-simpson-on-simon-fanshawes-the-trouble-with-gay-men/

My point is only, that there are different views out there, and not just one view.

Shame on you Jan Moir. I’m a straight man aged 56 with 3 boys and a grandchild. Your views were disgusting and unprofessional, Your job involves research. Had you done any, you woud have discovered that people do die of natural causes and your insuation that Gately died because he smoked a spliff and was gay is repulsive. Resign. Go away and never be heard from again!

your crap moir got to me clear over here in middle mormon usa…conservative but fair am i and for a gay liberal artical to get to me and my attention::: must have been uterrally fantastic which it was…shame on you for causeing pain for stephen’s family….shame shame shame