Jan Moir's Stephen Gately article

I have to admit, when I saw on the BBC last week that a Daily Mail article about Stephen Gately's death had become the latest victim of an internet complaints campaign, I was more than a little smug. The Mail has, in the past, been quick to condemn other news outlets when they have faced similar ire (the BBC's Ross-Brand scandal, the furore over Channel 4's showing of Jerry Springer: The Musical). It was satisfying to see that the bastion of middle England wasn't immune to orchestrated web campaigns.

Nevertheless, I was willing to give the writer a chance. It's all too easy to condemn without first considering the facts, and I didn't want to jump on the right-on bandwagon.

Having read it, I can only say well done to the 21,000 people who have complained so far. I will be joining your ranks shortly.

Yes, Stephen Gately suffered an unexpected and even an unusual death; Jan Moir is at least right in saying that "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". This is the only fair comment in an article which is short on fact and long on vitriol.

Some of the comments are just mean: Gately "could barely carry a tune in a Louis Vuitton trunk...a popular but largely decorous addition" to Boyzone. At the least Moir is guilty of petty journalism.

But what is more disturbing is that Moir seems determined to equate Gately's death with the fact that he was gay (because straight men have never fallen asleep drunk on the sofa? or smoked cannabis?), and that this tragic incident somehow highlights the sleaze that must lie behind same-sex marriages (because straight people don't cheat? or divorce?).

Moir issued a statement defending her article against an "orchestrated" attempt to criticise her by people who hadn't read the piece. I have read it, and I am disgusted by the bigoted opinions and sheer meanness displayed. I encourage you to read it too, then have your say to the PCC (complaints@pcc.org.uk ). I've never been a fan of the Daily Mail but this poor attempt at journalism takes it to a new low.