15 February 2003 – 21 March 2003
News of a “gay-bash cop patrol” in The Scottish Sun came about after a series of assaults at Edinburgh’s gay cruising area at Calton Hill. In one incident a man was found badly beaten. This outrage occupied a fraction of the space English editions devoted to the moral aspects of cruising. “Disgraced Ron Davies is not just a hypocrite and a pervert. He is also a liar”, frothed the editorial after splashing across their pages photographer, Nigel Cairns’s snaps showing what appeared to be the ex-Welsh secretary trailing a builder at a “public beauty spot” and another one of him, hanging around outside a ‘cottage’. They threw a cover over the piano leg and held back on one picture “too explicit to publish”. I can’t imagine poor Nigel’s telefocals lengthened on anything more than a quick blow-job, but I can understand The Sun’s coyness: Its boundaries of sexual expression extend no further than topless ‘girls’ on page three! After lecturing on the evils of cruising for sex, The Sun insisted Davies was “not fit to hold public office”. The Sun is confused. It is playing with itself over soft porn, while it chastises and devalues those who fall short of monogamy in a heterosexual marriage. Across the page from 22-year-old topless Melanie, barely concealing the slit up her shaved fanny in tight-fitting semi-opaque undies, The Sun declared how the “SUN SETTS ON DAVIES”. Following his efforts to dismiss this particular moment of madness as a search for badger setts, Davies quit the Welsh Assembly. The Sun snarled at “lying” Davies and his “sordid sex life”. He was portrayed as a man who had indulged in “devious behaviour”, an “indecent act” in a place “notorious for gay sex”. The letters page endorsed The Sun’s supposed moral high ground under the heading: “Sleazy liar Davies is not fit to hold office… Shocked readers have demanded his resignation”. And so they did: “Ron Davies has finally been man enough to admit he was in woods frequented by gays…” wrote Jenny Jackson from Cornwall. “Welsh Assembly member Ron Davies is a disgusting man with dirty habits…” wrote Brian Tavender from Gloucester. “No doubt, as with all the slimy politicians exposed by The Sun… (he) will STILL be allowed to play (a) part in governing our lives,” wrote T Lyness from Bellshill in Lanarkshire. “Disgraced former Cabinet minister Ron Davies is a sleazebag of the highest order. I would like to know why this odious man wasn’t charged with committing an act of gross indecency”, questioned Angela Moult from Kent. “There is no place in public life for a man with such perverted tastes”, the editorial stomped. Davies admitted: “I will say that I have handled this not very well. I could have handled it some other way but I didn’t.” What, by just telling the truth? Trailed by homophobic reporters? I think not. A retired vice squad officer twitched his nets overlooking the cruising area and told The Sun, “I have seen him park up countless times and disappear into the bushes. I cannot let the children go near that car park – it’s disgusting what goes on there”. The Sun appeared delighted that police might be involved. “He could be quizzed about what exactly he did with the Scouse builder”. But wait a minute! Am I reading the same paper that otherwise cheers on those who enjoy sex outdoors? Just two years ago The Scottish Sun was raising its glass to the practice. “Sun readers do it in their cars… not to mention lay-bys, cinemas, swimming pools, department stores, hospitals… and even at the Ideal Home Show!” They were “flooded” with confessions. “It seems Sun readers just LOVE to sex-periment,” they confessed. Rita “ended up doing it as the sun went down behind the sand dunes. It was great sex!” Tamara said: “I absolutely love having sex outdoors. Last summer my husband and I made love naked in the undergrowth outside Hadleigh Castle near Southend. We were in the bushes while all these tourists and visitors were walking by just a few feet away. It really turned me on.” Perverted? Disgusting? Sordid…? What happened to the moral fervour? Talking of which, do you remember the pervert-bating ‘Name and Shame’ campaign in The News of the World? One of its biggest fans was Raploch estate vigilante ‘Big Mags’ Haney, who fronted a campaign against paedophiles and chased Alan Christie from his hostel on the Raploch estate. She has now been arrested. It has been alleged she earned £600-a-day dealing drugs whilst coining £1,200 a month in benefits and dealing in heroin. She used a network of runners, including her own children. Rebekah Wade earns over a quarter of a million a year, uses a network of runners and deals in a more lethal poison. She edits The Sun.
There’s nothing like a bit of bare arse to get journos giggling round the back in their fag breaks. The British Naturism Organisation approached Aberdeen councillors with a request for a small part of its vast golden sands to be set aside for naturists. People who deplore having to shiver in damp costumes rather than stripping off to dry off in the sun would, of course, have been prepared to strip off anywhere, but the delicate nuances of moral standards were generally respected and the guidance of local councillors were sought. The standard of reporting exposed a media locked in Playtex girdles. In an attempt to demonstrate the ridiculousness of it all, a reporter on ITV’s Scotland Today shivered on an Aberdeen beach in the blasts of a March gale as he began to strip. He got no further than his shirt before they screen went blank. Viewers were warned there had been a “TEMPORARY LOSS OF SIGNAL”. The report circumvented the sexual politics and we all had a jolly good laugh. I don’t think anyone arrested for appearing naked on Scottish beaches, be they women who were prevented from ‘going topless’ or men who were hunted down by the authorities for enjoying sexual liaisons in the dunes quite appreciate this treatment. After performing a few searches on Aberdeen’s The Press and Journal’s website using words like ‘naturists’, ‘nudism’, ‘naked’ or even ‘nothing-on, revealed… Well, nothing! The Daily Record dismissed it as “STARKERS RAVING MAD” while The Scottish Sun focused on the weather: “Butt it’s too cold in A-bare-deen”. Despite the fact that the window of opportunity to bathe naked in the sun in Aberdeen was not much different than our naked neighbours in Scandinavia, stubborn references to “icy winds and freezing North Sea temperatures” in The Scottish Sun and cries that this was, after all, “one of Scotland’s coldest strips of coast” in The Daily Record prevailed. Reporter Charlie Gall scratched around for some corny stereotypes in dusty copies of Health & Efficiency, a wank fodder mag from the sixties: “The nudists also enjoy naked swimming sessions, volleyball, tennis and country walks”. Volleyball? Oh, please! And if anyone hasn’t enjoyed “naked swimming sessions” should make sure they whip off the textiles this summer at any one of Scotland’s official or unofficial nudist beaches and just do it. Along with Cleat’s Shorre, near Lagg, on the Isle of Arran, there is also a naturist beach at Stevenston in Ayrshire. It is also a gay beach, along with a stretch of sand in Gailes, near Irvine, despite a Sun reporter netting a policeman enjoying himself in the dunes there some years ago. Then there is the opportunity to upset the wardens at another gay beach at Aberlady, south of Edinburgh. (They’ll probably call the police and tell you you’re upsetting the birdwatchers). And then there are secluded gay and naturist beaches north of Aberdeen at Balmedie and Blackdog, and near Dundee at Tentsmuir Forest and Kinsholdy beach in Fife. If you can’t get there this summer, brush aside media mediocrity and pull yourself off to some hot pussy or hard cock that, despite raids and ‘exclusives’ from Scotland’s tight-lipped tabloids, can now be bought in any Scottish sex shop. Enjoy.
News that Glasgow City Council had become Scotland’s first local authority to employ a LGBT youth worker supported by some other staff on “a sessional basis” in the face of studies showing young gays 10 times more likely to attempt suicide than mainstream groups brought about a report from Lorna Martin in The Herald. She couldn’t stop herself outlining how “the council is putting £40,000 into the 14-month project”. For some reason best known to her, she also called on Simon Calvert, deputy director of the Christian Institute to put in his two-pennyworth. Why? The broadsheet reported him saying: “people were happy for local authorities to fund youth services that helped all young people, but said a group aimed at people of a certain sexual preference did not seem ‘very wholesome’.” I wonder; had the report been about the support offered to black or Asian youths in a deprived area, would she have sought the opinion of the BNP? I think not.
Not much in the way of balanced reporting in The Sunday Times Scotland, either, when they reported: (“Doctors Raise HIV Fears Over Sperm Clinic For Lesbians”). IVF clinic Man Not Included had been criticised by the British Medical Council Scotland for using fresh sperm from men tested for a number of STIs instead of frozen sperm, which also kills STIs. The report added: “The clinic has also been condemned by family campaigners and religious groups, who have branded the treatment as unethical and potentially dangerous”. Oh, duh! But I thought they all just loved our lesbian friends? Since “conventional fertility clinics abide by strict guidelines on the welfare of children, which in practice means they must be brought up within a balanced family environment”; I would’ve thought it would take any more than a garden gnome, let alone a News International journalist to figure out why gay women might choose Man Not Included.
Blink and you would’ve missed the recent survey that revealed Scottish society was still fundamentally homophobic. The Herald focused in its headline on the fact that the report had revealed Scottish society was racist. The Daily Record ignored the survey altogether even after finding a perfect example of sexist intolerance. “GENDER JEERS THAT MADE GIRL GOAL ACE CRY” was the story of “Lisa, 10, (who was) branded a boy by sore loser dads”. Lisa Hepburn had “short hair and is a talented player”; she also scored 12 goals in her first three games for Glendale and netted more than 40 times in her first season, much to the chagrin of parents who “taunt and sneer... One moronic parent even told Lisa’s dad to prove she was a girl – by pulling down her pants on the pitch”. Her mum begged: “But her face is so pretty, just like a beautiful little girl”. Hounded into a gender-appropriated role by both tabloid and rednecks alike, Lisa told The Record: “It is very upsetting. Sometimes I want to cry”, so now she carries her birth certificate with her when she goes to play for Glendale under-11s in Aberdeen. Whilst the perpetual bullying of young gays in school remained hidden, The Daily Record declared its campaign against bullying open under the banner: “SAVE OUR KIDS”, following the tragedy of 12-year-old Emma Morrison who had hung herself after bullies wrecked her life. The Record gleefully reported how tomboy Lisa “ditches her tomboy look for pinks, pastels and pampering”. Charlie Gall reported how Lisa “was smiling again after we showed she was pretty in pink… The Daily Record and High Street giants John Lewis fixed it for Lisa to show she is a real little lady”. She was “let loose” to “find her favourite girly outfits”. It was grotesque. The Daily Record photographed her in pink embroidered bottoms, shiny pink clogs and pink top. What really made Lisa happy was a silver Scorpion Nike football. Neither the jeering crowds, the tabloid, or the High Street giant’s pretty pink chiffon dresses did anything to cover the delight in Lisa’s eyes over her football prize. Lisa! As soon as you’re old enough, girl: Get the hell out of Hicksville!
The homophobic Mrs Ann Allen of the Church of Scotland’s Board of Social Responsibility has been a thorn in the foot of gay emancipation long before she began her campaign to prevent the repeal of Clause 28 in Scotland before it went the way she should have done a very long time ago. (Too bad, old girl)! If the very title, the Board of Social Responsibility sounds quaintly Victorian, its agenda is patently medieval! Now, with a panel of ministers and psychiatrists, the Kirk has launched a study amid concerns it is not doing enough for people possessed of demons! The Catholic Church already has a number of priests in Scotland who perform exorcisms. The Board of Social Responsibility is one of the country’s largest volunteer social work agencies employing around 1,600 people. At a time when it is claiming lack of funds to keep its homes for the elderly open, they have formed the Deliverance Group, or “HOLY GHOST-BUSTERS”, as The Scottish Sun called them, which plans to look at how other churches perform exorcism, consider ways of funding ministers working in this field and tackle public scepticism. Joyce Buchanan of the Board of Social Responsibility told The Sun the study would show a “sensitive, sensible and broad-minded approach”. The Board of Social Irresponsibility wouldn’t know sensitivity, sensibility or broad-mindedness if it sat on their faces.
Preparing for her daughter’s future in the event of her death, a mum left in her Will, directions for the care of her six-year-old. “In the event of my death… I wish for my daughter to reside permanently with my sister *****…” (Although The Daily Record had named the persons involved, lawyer, Mark O’Hanlon, representing the mother’s sister, won an order under Section 46 of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act forbidding the reporting of names during proceedings. This ruling affects the Internet although press reports can, of course, be read by simply popping in to your local library). The Record described this as the “love-tugs aunt’s win” in a “lesbian battle”. The mother had requested that the currently existing arrangements secured by a court of limited access to her daughter by her ex-husband, remained in place. Following her untimely death from a brain tumour, there was just one issue, and one issue only that hurtled this rather sad and personal story onto the front page of The Daily Record. It “would mean the little girl moving in permanently…” with a lesbian! Never mind that the mother’s sister was a professional social worker and had been the main carer for the girl for over two years - “GIRL, 6 LEFT TO LESBIAN IN WILL”, the tabloid squealed from the front-page in Janice Burns ‘exclusive’. The story was a horrible lurch back to the dark and tyrannical days of the paper’s editorship under Martin Clarke. Sympathy was orchestrated for the father’s plight. He was “locked” in a “bizarre and bitter custody battle” and “may have to give up the fight for his daughter due to soaring legal costs”. A selective use of bold print underlined his assurances that this was not about homophobia… “But…” – and there always was one – in the next sentence, and not in bold this time – he admitted: “But I am concerned about my daughter growing up in an environment where there may be a second adult who is gay…” Full of contradictions, he goes on to say: “I am not prejudiced against anyone but (my turn to be selective with the bold button) I thought this admission may have been considered in determining custody”. The story closed with a reminder that “the case comes up as MPs debate the issue of gay adoption”.
Finally, any fans of BBC’s Reporting Scotland’s Jackie Bird might like to know she has now agreed to write a column for The Scottish Daily Mail. Bye-bye Birdy!
Garry Otton’s book SEXUAL FASCISM is published by Ganymede Books priced £8.99.
garry@scottishmediamonitor.com
http://www.scottishmediamonitor.com.
CUT IT OUT!
Archbishop of Glasgow, Mario Conti, the same man who so vehemently opposed the elected government’s commitment to repeal of Clause 28 demonstrates his support for Tony Blair and war with Iraq in The Herald: “If we hold to the democratic system of government, to elect people to be our leaders, we have got to give them space to lead, we have got to give them trust”.
A certain Jack Irvine, the ex-Sun editor who handled the Keep the Clause campaign in Scotland exercising some tabloid remedial therapy in The Herald: “I believe that drug dealers should be shot through the back of the head, and, as in China, their relatives sent the bill for the bullet… It’s really that simple”.
News of the new MRSA superbug in The Herald: “Although most of the infected people in the US are gay men, the superbug is not restricted to this group – athletes, schoolchildren, and newborn infants have all fallen victim… Health officials suspect the high number of cases among gay men is due to skin-to-skin contact during intercourse rather than conventional sexual transmission. Both healthy gay men and those who are HIV positive have been infected”. The bug, spreading throughout US prisons can affect anyone, including those involved in contact sports. There have been a couple of reported outbreaks from a new strain in Scotland.
Gillian Ferguson in The Scotsman, responding to the Pope’s attack on Scotland as no longer a Christian country; that that its young people have declining morals and are indifferent to religion: “Christians often put people off Christianity. And that happy-clappy c1970 crap music that churches persist in thinking young people like – who told them that? What about Moby, or U2’s catalogue, for example of how Christianity can be hip?” That, or a decent burial?
The Daily Record on “limbs in the Loch killer” William Beggs’s job as a prison barber: “The sadistic gay murder was dubbed the ‘demon barber’ when he landed the post at Peterhead Prison, Aberdeenshire”. Don’t count on gay visibility when the news is good, will you.
