JAN MOIR DOES IT AGAIN

The Daily Mail today published a column by Jan Moir that appears to suggest that Stephen Gately’s death was caused by his homosexual lifestyle.

The article, which has since caused a storm in the Twitterverse, claims Gately’s death was “un-natural”, gravely questions the findings of the autopsy and ends by questioning the validity of civil-partnerships.

On the nature of Gately’s death, she says: “All the official reports point to a natural death, with no suspicious circumstances . . . But, hang on a minute. Something is terribly wrong with the way this incident has been shaped and spun into nothing more than an unfortunate mishap on a holiday weekend, like a broken teacup in the rented cottage.”

Moir also questions the coroner’s report: “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.” She adds: “The circumstances surrounding his death are more than a little sleazy. Cowles and Gately took a young Bulgarian man back to their apartment. It is not disrespectful to assume that a game of canasta . . . was not what was on the cards . . . What happened afterwards is anyone’s guess.”

She ends the article by saying: “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 . . . 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.”

A Facebook group has been set up calling on people to pressure the Mail to remove the article by contacting advertisers that have appeared next to it and by complaining to the Press Complaints Commission.

Marks & Spencer, BT and Procter & Gamble are among the nine advertisers listed on the group’s page, with phone numbers and other contact details.