Stephen Gately Tribute

I'm having a little down time watching the Stephen Gately tribute and as the show started I suddenly remembered another connection between the two of us.

• We're both Irish (though North and South)
• We're both Stephen Patrick G.
• We both sing.

But on his first birthday (St. Patrick's day) after his death that was also the day that I was selected to once again stand for Linlithgow and East Falkirk. Maybe this campaign is my own little personal tribute to that other Stephen Patrick whose memory I defended against a certain newspaper article on this blog back last year.

Press Self Regulation Fails Time to Disband the PPC

Earlier today Mark Thompson wrote what is the point of the Press Complaints Commission in light of their ruling on Jan Moir and her Stephen Gately piece which lack cajones? Well now his view and mine are both being backed up by Peter Tatchell he says:

"The Press Complaints Commission should be disbanded. By failing to uphold its own standards and enforce its own Code of Practice, the PCC has demonstrated that it is unwilling, unable and unfit to regulate newspapers. We need a new press regulator with principles and teeth.

"Jan Moir's commentary on the death of Stephen Gately was factually inaccurate on two points. His death was not unnatural or lonely, yet the PCC has rejected a complaint concerning this inaccuracy by Stephen's civil partner, Andrew Cowles."

As I argued earlier the case for homophobia was the hardest of the three main clauses that the PCC may have had to judge on. Surely the timing of the article showed a lack of sensitivity to those close to the singer, the PPC merely said that the timing was "in questionable taste". But surely the factual accuracy should have been upheld more than anything else.

The PCC acknowledged that Jan Moir mentioned the coroners reports, that right the one that said he died of natural causes, to be precise Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndrome (SADS). The whole push of her article was to use unfounded, homophobic stereotypes to prove that is was "not natural".

Of course as Millennium Elephant points out the PCC is paid from by the people it regulates. Why? We have independent bodies to regulate almost everything else. This decision to even ignore the blatant things like accuracy in the face of opinion writing shows what a failure the self regulation of the press, by the press is. It really only serves to help the press.

As Dave Page wrote on today's Lib Dem Voice:

"Had Moir’s comments been made in the average workplace to a colleague who had complained, would she have been let off the hook?"

I think we all know what we hope the answer to that question would be. So in one workplace where such comments only affect a few to another where it clearly affects 25,000 who bothered to speak up, yet no action is taken.

As the PCC clearly have no cajones, there is nothing to really cut off apart from their ability to pass judgement on their own. Let's set up an independent body, with some clear standards (the current ones work for starters but could do with strengthening and broadening in some areas). Today they failed, show them the door and get somebody in that will actually do the job that is required.

READ ALSO: Of course not all Grauniad opinion is of hte abolish variety. Jonathan Heawood poses the opposite stand point. Of course I still say freedom of speech is one thing but being allowed to propagate deliberate falsehood, even in an opinion piece, is quite another.

The PCC Chickens Out Over Jan Moir Article

So the Press Complaints Commission PCC have reached their verdict on Jan Moir's piece after Stephen Gately's death, the timing of which they said was "in questionable taste". They said:

"It would not be proportionate to rule against the columnist's right to offer freely expressed views about something that was the focus of public attention."

They had also passed it on to the Crown Prosecution Service who ruled that it was not unlawful:

"In December 2009, the Metropolitan Police passed the article and statements from two complainants to the Crown Prosecution Service to determine whether or not any crime had been committed through publication of that article.

"Having considered that material I have decided that there is insufficient evidence that any offence has been committed.

"In coming to this conclusion I have paid particular attention to Article 10 of the Human Rights Act which protects individuals' freedom of expression. It is an established legal principle that this freedom applies equally to information and ideas that are favourably received as to those which offend, shock and disturb.

"Though the complainants and many others found this article offensive, this does not make its publication unlawful."

So if I'm reading the CPS right the government legislation against incitement to racial or homophobic incitement is null and void next to Article 1o of the Human Rights Act. So too it would seem are the laws of liable, they were suppositions in Jan Moir's original article which she presented as fact.

On her saying that the singers death was not "natural" the PCC said that while this was controversial and speculative, "could not be established as accurate or otherwise". But surely the point was that on that particular Friday only days after the incident a newspaper columnist with no medical or forensic training or access to the corpse would be in a far less likely place to know what was accurate than family or medical professionals. She actually dismissed the comments of these to give her own slant on things, saying is was factual. The thing that could not have been established was what Jan Moir was saying on that point, so the PCC chickened out on the one point that was open to censure on accuracy grounds rather than opinion to incite hatred.

The PCC said that there was a fine line to be drawn "between critical innuendo which, though perhaps distasteful, was permissible in a free society – and discriminatory description of individuals, and the code was designed to constrain the latter rather than the former". The problem is as Sara Bedford pointed out yesterday this is not an isolated incident with the Daily Fail.

Almost every story that features a gay man leads to some sort of stereotyping and discriminatory description of lifestyle. There is always some slur in the way they put the story across. The latter is prevalent within that particular publication. The problem is that they spread it around and only individual stories can be raised at a time rather than the whole library of unfounded innuendo that they splurge out over and over and over again.

So while the PCC keep saying they cannot condemn one individuals freedom of speech the whole ethos of the paper is slanted in a particular way which does discriminate. Unfortunately the Code is also incapable of dealing with the largess of such views across an entire publication.

UPDATE: Reading the PPC's full findings I was particularly interested to see what it had to say about the cause of death SADS (Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndrome) which Moir dismissed so fully as "not natural".

"It was clearly the columnist's opinion 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 was a general and rhetorical point, based on the view of the prevailing health of young men. It admittedly did not take into account the possibility of SADS or similar, but the Commission did not consider that it could be read to be an authoritative and exhaustive statement of medical fact. Equally, the Commission was fully aware of the widespread objection to the reference to Mr Gately's death as not being "natural". This was undoubtedly a highly provocative claim which was open to interpretation, and many people had considered this to be distasteful and inaccurate. It was a claim, nonetheless, that could not be established as accurate or otherwise. The article had set out the official cause of death so it was clear that this was a broad opinion rather than a factual statement."

So Andrew Cowles complaining thus about Moir saying the family were distorting facts:

"Although a post mortem had been conducted and the results published - confirming that Mr Gately had died from natural causes through an acute pulmonary oedema, believed to have been brought on by a heart attack - the thrust of the article was that this was questionable ("something is terribly wrong with the way this incident has been shaped and spun"; "the sugar coating on this fatality is so saccharine-thick that it obscures whatever bitter truth lies beneath")."

Appears to have no protection under the law. Journalists Columnists are at will under freedom of speech under the Human Rights act to deny facts, accuse the family who want these facts out to be liars, or indeed trying to obscure something. This is twisted and the PCC really has failed horrifically to defend factual representation today. The claim that Moir quoted the cause of death, she did but then only to rebuke it as nonsense. How that can pass accuracy under the PCC code dumbfounds me.

Read Also Andrew takes a look at one of the other clauses in depth. While a rather fluffy elephant renames the PCC the Press Cover-Up Cronies.

Emotive Boyzone Single Released

I will learn to live before I die,
Will learn to love and learn to try,
Not to give it all away.

These are the first words of the new Boyzone single Gave it All Away (due to be released 1 March). Hauntingly they are sung by Stephen Gately who takes lead vocals on this track. These are the last vocals he laid down before heading to Majorca.

To be fair the shortest member of the band did seem to live life to the full. As well as the band's new record, he was working on a children's book when he died. He'd also appeared the iconic musical roles of Joseph and the child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

He'd also learned to love and Andy Cowles his partner was a very lucky man to be the one who received that love, must personally. But also Keith, Shane Mikey and Ronan had the love of their 'brother' Steo. He was far more than just a band mate to them. They have done an excellent job of remembering and honouring him in this video and you can see their emotions riding close to the surface.

All I can say is have the tissues to hand before you press play.

Gately 'Connected' Party Complaint Made About Jan Moir

Remember way back in October when Jan Moir wrote her poisonous piece on the eve of Stephen Gately's funeral in the Daily Fail.

Many of us ordinary people, 25,000 to be almost exact, took to our keyboards and wrote to the Press Complaints Commission and even though they did make a special case about it on their website. They wrote back to us saying there was nothing they could do under the code as none of us were 'directly' affected by the words on Jan Moir's hard drive.

Well today that has changed. Andrew Cowles was directly affected by the words that Ms Moir wrote has launched a formal complaint. Mr Cowles was Gately's civil partner and was present in the appartment when the man he loved died. Stephen Abell of the PPC.

"We're now investigating this complaint which we are taking forward formally and we'll consider it together with the 25,000 complaints as soon as possible.

"We'll be writing to the newspaper with this latest complaint from Andrew Cowles."

Obviously at the time of the article Cowles and the Gately family had other things they needed to do in grieving for their loved one. But now after a time of mourning Cowles is looking at the allegations that Moir made about a gay lifestyle in general but his and Stephen's in particular and seeking to set the record straight.

More people complained about that Jan Moir's than any single article in history and her unpology a week later did nothing to correct her mistake. Now the PCC are looking at how this has affected Andrew Cowles along with the other 25,000 of us who complained.

Ronan Speaks About Loss of 'Lil Brother' Steo

In this morning's Observer Ronan Keating gives his first interview since the sudden death of Stephen Gately last month. I'll warn you now have the tissues ready before you click this link to the story.

He tells of the little things that make things hard, the missing laughter of Stephen, his number appearing in his mobile, the book they were both reading that Stephen never got to the end of and the feeling he had when he did, the premiere they had planned to attend together. Gately may have been a year Keating's senior but his boyish charm made Ronan, from a family of sisters look on him as his little brother.

He was in Chicago preparing to run the city's marathon when he heard the news. He couldn't believe that the Stephen who had passed away was the bands 'Steo' it surely had to be another Stephen. But then he threw himself into preparing for the funeral. In a way I fully understand that. It was like me and my mum at about 2:30am after my father had died, she came to my room because the light was still on and was working on her to do list to check if there was anything else, of course I added a few things. The practical things sure are a way to keep focus, but there is also a strange sense like Ronan has now looking back on things how surreal your actions are to carry on with some sense of normality or activity when everything has suddenly been shaken up like that.

Going on he says that the funeral was hard. Getting out of the car with people clapping didn't seem right. The normal celebrity reaction to turn wave and smile wasn't right. He says he and the rest of the band didn't want to appear rude, but also didn't want to appear disrespectful, so just kept their eyes on the ground.

However, he did say:

"When times are at their worst, it's amazing what people will do for you. I've seen, this last couple of weeks, the genuine support from the public – it has been incredible – and from the media, bar one. It's been amazing."

Oh yeah the Jan Moir elephant in the room was touched upon. This is the first time that anyone who was close to the story has actually spoken candidly about it. Ronan went on to say:

"None of us read the article because we were told 'You wouldn't want to read it' so we purposely didn't, we ignored it. But obviously it was unavoidable to hear what comments were being made, and I think it's disgusting. It was just wrong; one, for her to write it, and two, for the paper to print it. It shouldn't have been allowed. It was wrong. It looked to me like someone trying to make a name for themselves out of a terrible situation, a devastating situation. And what was worse was the apology – the alleged apology, that was written a week later, was her defending herself! It's just disgraceful. Again, for her to do it and for the paper to allow it. I'm dumbfounded. It's bizarre.

"But anyway, again, I wouldn't dwell on it. I wouldn't want to give her any publicity for that. He was a human being. A human being with feelings; a husband, a family that have feelings. At what point do people cross that line? Incredible," he shakes his head. "Incredibly insensitive."

Guess that unpology was recognised as such by more than just me.

However, Ronan has got himself back into work. When his mother Marie died of breast cancer 11 years ago, he hide himself away for a bit and turned to drink, which he admits wasn't good for him. This time he is back working, promoting his new album Winter Songs which is out tomorrow. Also there will be two tracks on the new Boyzone album which will feature the already recorded voice of Stephen. One of the tracks is going to be the next Boyzone single and Ronan has predicted this tribute is liable to be the biggest hit of 2010.

Farewell Stephen Gately

The funeral service for Stephen Gately is about to start at St Laurence O'Toole's church in the area of Dublin where he grew up.

The words of Words are possibly the most poignant Boyzone song for this time. Indeed the opening lines could almost apply to Stephen at this time:

"Smile an ever lasting smile
A smile can bring you near to me.
Don't ever let me find you gone
'Cause that would bring a tear to me.
This world, has lost its glory
Let's start a brand new story
Now my love."

So here is a rendition by the Bee Gees and Boyzone, both groups now tragically one man down.



The complete official video for Words is here but cannot be embedded.

Sky will be covering events live, though I'll be out and about campaigning.

Even the PCC are Making Jan Moir a Special Case

Of course Jan Moir's article would have to be published on a day I was exceedingly busy then out having a good time. Indeed by the time I got home this evening the article appears to have been pulled from the Daily Fail website and the Press Complaints Commission (PPC) actually on their page about making a complaint saying, 'if you want to make a complaint about Jan Moir's article click here'. Apparently their website was down earlier so this may be to avoid too much overload on one server.

If you really want to read the full contents Cardiff Blogger has the full sorry piece with his commentary here.

I read it and logged a complaint with the PCC under three of their clauses. Accuracy, Intrusion into grief or shock and Discrimination. As the last of this has been widely covered elsewhere in the blogosphere I'm going to blog about the later.

Jan Moir writes:

"The sugar coating on this fatality is so saccharine-thick that it obscures whatever bitter truth lies beneath. 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."

Well I'm sorry they do. At only a few years older I thought I may have been facing something like that. My case was even more bizarre, I'd just left the gym, I may not have been in the peak of fitness but I still was pretty fit, but I experienced my first diagnosed cardiac episode, although I may have been having them for 20 years before. So yes I may very well have been one such person, so I question you accuracy.

When I was 16, one of our school friends did go to sleep and never wake up the day before our second Maths O'Level paper. So the whole school knew and the was there together to hear the news. The whole year was in shock at after the first hour when people could leave the hall, over half of my year did. Those of us who stayed couldn't settle for a good five minutes. At my 10 year reunion we marked the passing of 5 of our year, that is out of 200 or so pupils, as well as the one above 3 others were of natural causes. We had only just started to turn 28 never mind 33. Jan Moir must really have led a charmed life if she has never encountered someone young who has just passed away in their sleep.

As for her total disregard of the official cause of death, well as others have covered that heavily as well what more need I say. Her insinuations that there is something dark and sinister behind everything would mean many gay men should never again offer a bed or sofa for the night to a friend who has missed their last train, or can't be bothered waiting for the long queue at the taxi rank*. But then it appears that Ms Moir doesn't think that a member of Boyzone could be overflowing with the milk of human kindness, let alone the rest of the gay community.

The intrusion into grief and shock is maybe the hardest of the three clauses to apply. In the code it states:

5 Intrusion into grief or shock

i) In cases involving personal grief and shock, enquiries and approaches must be made with sympathy and discretion and publication handled sensitively. This should not restrict the right to report legal proceedings.

*ii) When reporting suicide, care should be taken to avoid excessive detail about the method used.

Now of course, Ms Moir seems to correlate the tragic death of Stephen Gately with the death of Kevin McGee the former partner of Matt Lucas. So maybe she does think it was a suicide despite all evidence to the contrary. So she does manage to avoid using excessive detail about the method used, firstly as there wasn't any, but more to the point she just makes it up.

The more solid ground of course it point about publication being handled sensitively. There is no way on this earth that this piece in the Daily Fail this morning cold possibly have been considered sensitive. To also publish on the eve of the funeral on the day that the body is returned to Ireland merely heightens the crassness of the piece as well as the timing.

Stuart Sharpe told me there was no point me blogging about this as I was heading out. Then when I got back that there was nothing new under the sun to add. I'm not sure if I have gotten a new take on this ridiculous woman's poisoned pen piece, but it certainly is mine and avoided too much of the obvious.

* You have been warned if you see the two of us out over the next few weekends lads. No can do, Ms Moir might get the wrong idea, the canasta game is just not going to happen.

Stephen Gately: The Heart of the Tragedy

Stephen Gately's mother Margaret has shed a little more light on the issue of the Boyzone singer's sad and sudden demise last Saturday. It appears that there is a heart condition in the family that has claimed a number of members on his father's side. Indeed his mother said:

"As soon as I heard he had died I knew it was a heart problem. It has lifted a huge burden off our family's shoulders."

This initial response from Mrs Gately is borne out by the post mortem which revealed acute pulmonary oedema, a build-up of fluid on his lungs as the cause of death. Most cases are related to heart failure or the early stages of heart disease.

Some readers will be wonder how anyone can get so suddenly find they have heart disease so young. Well from personal experience it is possible to go for years with what is overlooked as a heart condition until something serious happens, fortunately in my case not fatally and manageable. When I as getting examined by my doctor at the time the history that was taken revealed numerous times even when I was competing as a athlete that the signs may well have been there, but they were often put down to a strenuous session or hard fought race. Indeed incidents went back at least 20 years from the time I was finally diagnosed.


It's not that the doctors I've had have not been good but that some conditions are hard to detect and are normally self correcting. Not all of them lead to the same, sad, early conclusion that faced Stephen in Majorca. So while the family are going to get tested it may still not necessarily show up in them all at present. But at least they should well be aware of early symptoms and be watching out for them hopefully and not merely put it down to exhaustion, overworking or whatever.

The other day I commented the other day I shared two names (as well as my surname initial) with Gately. It now turns out we also shared a long undiagnosed heart condition that was discovered in our 30s. There is also a love and ability of singing.

My tribute on Sunday morning was one more or less devoid of personal recollection as the shock was still sinking in. Part of that reason was that Stephen's own coming out was one of the catalysts that made me accept who I was myself and led to my own admission to others of my sexuality.

I guess I had more in common and to thank that fellow Irish boy for.

Hat tip to Paul Walter

No Matter What: Stephen Gately 1976 - 2009

It is always a tragedy when somebody dies suddenly, when it happens to someone young who was looking forward to getting back to what made them famous even more so.

Last night Boyzone singer Stephen Gately who was on Majorca with his long time partner Andy Cowles, they had a civil partnership ceremony in 2006, went out for a few drinks. When he returned to his accommodation he fell asleep and never woke up. He's been born on St. Patrick's day in 1976 (he shared both my given names*, much as Morrissey also does, as a result).



Indeed his last Tweet on Tuesday said:

"still busy - lots going on. Focussing on finishing my book next so may be quiet here."

The book was his children's fantasy novel The Tree of Seasons which was due to be released for Christmas, this year

The band, who X-Factor contenders should remember made a drastic debut on the Gabriel Byrne's Late, Late Show on RTE, had six UK number one hits from 1994 - 2000. They were managed by Louis Walsh and were preparing for another tour after last year's successful comeback tour. Louis found out after last night's X-Factor and said:

"We're all absolutely devastated.

"I'm in complete shock. I was only with him on Monday at an awards ceremony. We don't know much about what's happened yet.

"I only heard after The X Factor and we will rally around each other this week. He was a great man."

In 1999 Stephen took the brave step at the time of coming out as gay, a former member of the bands security detail were possibly about to out the story. It wasn't the done thing for members of boybands popular with screaming teenagers to remove that curtain of possible romance from their fans, even long term girlfriends were hidden. However, later he said he was glad that he would no longer have to hide his love for then boyfriend of four years Eloy de Jong of the Dutch boyband Caught in the Act. But it didn't take away from the lustre of little Stephen or the adoration of the band or him. After the band had reformed their second new single Better contained a scene on romantic couples including two men embracing as a nod to Stephen and his sexuality.

After the band split Stephen had a short lived solo career, his first solo single New Beginning peaked at number 3 in the UK charts. The follow up I Believe which was inspired when he saw Billy Elliot and appeared on the film's soundtrack, peaked at the 'Stephen Glenn position' number 11. When the third solo single Stay only reached 13 Polydor dropped the artist.

While it may have been a disaster is let Stephen move into musical theatre from early 2003 he took on the lead in Andrew Lloyd-Weber and Tim Rice's Joesph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. His next West End role was a shock for the sweet one out of Boyzone appearing as the child-catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in 2004. In 2006 he also appeared as the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz.

There does seem to be an obligatory Doctor Who reference in a lot of my tributes and this one is no exception. Stephen appeared as Tommy Tommorrow in the Doctor Who audio play Horror of Glam Rock in March 2007, alongside Paul McGann the 8th Doctor and Bernard Cribbens who recently played** on screen Wilfred Mott, the Doctor's companion Donna Noble's (Catherine Tate) grandfather .

He also appeared in the 2007 second series of Dancing on Ice where he skated with Candaian professional Kristina Lenko. Though she said she "did not feel safe" dancing with Stephen and they went out in 8th on 10 February. He also made his debut film role in Credo in 2008.

A sad loss at the age of only thirty three.

UPDATE: I'd forgotten how in 2001 the Lib Dems had used New Beginning as their campaign song, and it has subsequently been used at Conference many times. (Hat tip to Lib Dem Voice). See also Andrew Reeves.

Many tributes have been flooding in from around the world and the best place I can find to keep up with them is on Ronan Keating's official website.

Stephen Gately 17 March 1976 - 10 October 2009



*His full name was Stephen Patrick David Gately.

** Not his first on screen role in the series.