Press Commission receives Complaints for Three Newspapers Accused of Homophobia

July 19, 2010

For carrying homophobic headlines over last week’s court decision to grant asylum to gay men, two newspapers may now have to face a price from the Press Complaints Commission.

The Daily Express was hit with 72 complaints and the Daily Mail three for headlines trivializing the severity of an asylum case, which involved a gay Iranian man and a man from Cameroon who were both seeking asylum in Britain.

In his ruling, Judge Rodgers said that gay men must be "free to enjoy themselves going to Kylie concerts" and drink "exotically coloured cocktails".

The quote, taken out of context, made the subhead on the front page of the Daily Express. The headline read: "Now asylum if you're gay".

"What planet is he on?" read the Daily Mail in its headline, referring to the judge. There’s “no room for gays” read the Daily Star.
 

In an op-ed in the Guardian, the National Union of Journalists chiefs Jeremy Dear and Michelle Stanistreet accused the newspapers of rallying hatred.
 

They wrote: "The only motivation in these tabloid articles is to whip up hatred and division. They want to create scapegoats and undermine opposition to the Tories' cuts. They also risk intensifying homophobia in Britain. The murder of Ian Baynham last autumn is a terrible reminder of where this can lead."
 

Author Hannah Dee wrote: "If you've got a front page saying 'Now asylum if you're gay'… you're trivialising the issue. The judge's comments were blown completely out of context" and said the papers have a “pattern of homophobia.”
 

Donnacha Delong, the vice-president of the National Union of Journalists, said: "We condemn the homophobia of all [three] of the papers. The PCC should do something about it."

Image source: Stefano Corso