Jan Moir tries to apologise but still misses the point

Jan Moir's recent homophobic column in the Daily Mail about the death of Stephen Gately was awful and I have previously blogged about it, you can read it here.

Well, it does appear that Jan Moir is trying to apologise in her latest column, titled "The truth about my views on the tragic death of Stephen Gately."

Initially as you read it you feel there may actually be a genuine change of heart, although there are some lines it that make me feel otherwise. I have spent a lot of time since Jan Moir's first column reading some of her past columns and I have come to the conclusion that she isn't homophobic, but uses people's sexuality a little bit too liberally in the columns when it really doesn't add anything to the content.

"What had been reported about that night is that Stephen and his civil partner Andrew Cowles went to a nightclub and brought back a Bulgarian man to their apartment."

This line from the apology proves a point, the Bulgarian man, is a close friend, yet still Jan is trying to imply something sinister.

"There have been complaints about my use of the word 'sleazy' to describe this incident, but I still maintain that to die on a sofa while your partner is sleeping with someone else in the next room is, indeed, sleazy, no matter who you are or what your sexual orientation might be."

There is no proof at all that this is the event that took place, just nothing more than gossip and since then it has come out that it is in fact untrue, that Andrew Cowles and the friend in question were in fact in different bedrooms.

"The point of my observation that there was a 'happy ever after myth' surrounding such unions was that they can be just as problematic as heterosexual marriages. "

But Jan, that isn't what you said, so surely if that is what you meant then perhaps you should have said it and it might have avoided a lot of uncertainty?

The original column also talked about other gay stars, dead and alive, again with absolutely no justification, perhaps as stars accept complete hogwash is written about them the public should too, but I don't think it is acceptable for "journalists" and I say that in the loosest term with some people to just say what they want without facts being part of their research.

Jan Moir may not be homophobic, but in my opinion the original column was and some of the content is sheer hogwash. As for the apology, nice try but way off the mark and not genuine as there are too many caveats and justifications that undo the original part.

The one part of the apology I felt was real was that about the timing of the original column - it was very bad timing indeed.

Stephen Gately

I had the BBC News on this morning in the absence of Match of the Day, as I woke up a little later than normal and wasn't really listening while mooching around making coffee when I heard the paper review and Stephen Gately had died.

I couldn't believe it, he was way too young, exactly how I felt last year when I was told of Neil Trafford's tragic death last year.

I then sat and listened and it appears that after a night in Majorca where Stephen and his partner Andrew were on holiday, they returned home and he never woke up this morning.

He was only 33, although he had lived an exciting life, he was born in Dublin in March 1976 and as everyone knows was a member of the very successful boy band, Boyzone. All of their albums hit the number one spot as did six singles and after the band split in 2000, although this was an amicable split unlike their counterparts in Take That, Stephen went solo and had a top ten album and he then went onto star on stage as Joseph which I think he did amazingly well.

Stephen had a really varied career including commentating on Match of the Day for an Ireland game - that is something I had really forgotten.

Stephen's top 3 hit, New Beginning was used by the Liberal Democrats in the 2001 General Election campaign. I still have the copy, and of course all of the Boyzone albums and singles!

Only last year Boyzone reformed and have been a hit again since. They released a new single "Love You Anyway" and then a compilation album in October last year. Then in December 2008 they released a second single called "Better", the accompanying video generated a lot of controversy because it showed a lot of romantic couples including two men embracing, it was condemned by many including the Reformed Presbyterian Church.

In 1999, just ten years ago Stephen came out, but on the front page of The Sun, it was rumoured that a former member of the band's security firm was going to out him, so he went first as it were. Stephen was aged just 23 at this point and also admitted that he had been in a relationship since 1998 with Eloy de Jong, who was a member of a Dutch boy band, Caught in the Act.

Stephen and Eloy split up in 2002 and through mutual friends Elton John and David Furnish he then met Andrew Cowles who Stephen went on and had a civil partnership with in London in 2006.

I cannot begin to imagine what Andrew is going through now and I couldn't begin to imagine life without Roger in the same way.

It is always a tragedy when anyone dies, but when it is young it makes it so much harder to deal with, Stephen was just 33 and still had so much of his life ahead of him, our thoughts are with Andrew, the band and his family at this awful time.