Spark In Darkness

Jan Moir posted a repellent and deeply offensive article in the Daily Mail about Stephen Gately‘s death. Her homophobic screed stood out as shocking in a paper where homophobia is pretty standard.

Another fool has asked why we care. We know the paper was a hate rag. We know it was offensive. We know that any articles inside said paper were probably going to annoy us. So why not just avoid the paper and pretend none of their articles exist? Why do we care?

I care

I don’t care because I was a fan of Stephen Gately, though he did not deserve this treatment

It is not the bereaved family that has prompted the depth of my attention, though Moir’s article was poisonous and deeply insensitive to a family’s pain.

I do not care because I am personally offended - though Jan Moir’s article is truly one of the most offensive excuses for journalism I’ve ever had the displeasure to read

I do not even care because of the extreme inaccuracies in her rubbish that make it better filed as a work of speculative fiction than any kind of journalism - even by the Mail’s standards.

I care because of Ian Baynham.

Ian Baynham was a gay man who was beaten to death by attackers screaming homophobic abuse. And this is why I care.

I care because we live in a world where violence against gay people still happens - and it happens a lot. And it’s bloody severe as well. I care because there are people in this country who would not only fight tooth and nail to destroy every right we have struggled for but would physically attack us and quite literally try to kill us.

I care because this happens because we live in a society that still devalues gay life. We live in a society that still says gay life and gay people are worth less and not equal to straight folks.

I care because homophobia, the motivation for this attack and so many others, is still considered OK by so many. I care because hating us is still standard for far too many. I care because the idea that gay people have it coming, deserve to die or are inherently doomed to die before their time is considered normal.

I care because Jan Moir’s article is a part of that. I care because her article is part of the endless pack of haters that tell me that I am worth less than straight people, that I am due less respect than straight people, that I am not worth the same rights as straight people. I care because her article is telling, supporting and rallying other homophobes these things. I care because her article is devaluing gay people.

I care because her article is implying that early, suspicious and ‘sleazy’ death is an inherent and expected thing for gay men.

And it is too the background of such hate and such devaluing and such offence that hate crimes happen. People do not wake up one morning with hate suddenly beamed into their head. They don’t wake up with a sudden urge to attack and kill gay people. They develop these attitudes in a society that supports them and to a background of hate speech that teaches them, directs them, influences them and supports them.

I care because Jan Moir is part of the hateful chorus that has blood on their hands.


And this is why the PCC is wrong and truly lacking in understanding when they say that only those affected should complain about Jan Moir’s article.

I am affected. Every homosexual in the country is affected. We are affected because we have a right to be safe. We have a right to live and we have a right to have our lives valued as highly as heterosexuals.

And I resent most strongly Jan Moir and her ilk trying to take that from us.