A homophobic Editorial: Professional negligence or genuine belief?
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Photo courtesy the Daily Mirror’s febrile imagination
On the 29th of July 2010 I read a strange and badly written editorial that appeared in the Daily Mirror newspaper. To put it mildly, the editorial was a diatribe against the so-called recent trend of ‘persuading’ citizens to become gay. It demonstrated an appalling lack of good judgment to believe that anyone can be persuaded to change his or her sexual orientation. What offended me most was the editor’s charge that there is a hidden agenda by certain groups and individuals to ‘rope in a few dozens of unsuspecting leading personalities in society to their clubs.’ It almost sounded like medieval sorcery.
The outrageously homophobic slant of the Editor reflects an enduring insensitivity, bordering on outright violence towards homosexual identities and concerns in our society. Bizarrely, given the editorials published in the same newspaper in the recent past regarding Pride Week, one wonder’s why and to what end the Daily Mirror’s take on gay rights has changed in such a short space of time?
Though I am not homosexual in my sexual orientation, I do not believe in the pre-ordained sexuality proposed by the Daily Mirror editorial or the argument that homosexuality is somehow unnatural. Reflected in this revolting editorial is a rank fear of difference that reveals a great deal about our society. The Nazis did a good head job of constructing the Jews as the ‘other’. Today, the Israelis are doing a good head job of constructing the Palestinians as the ‘other’. Perhaps the only difference is that in Sri Lanka today, we are more careful about derogatory statements against ethnicity or religion than we are about defamatory statements on sexual orientation.
This Editorial did a great disservice to Sri Lankan women as well, implying that those who have suffered violence in heterosexual relationships turn to homosexuality as a result, and worse, into man-haters. This is utter nonsense and hugely insulting to boot. I am appalled that in the twenty-first century, we still unquestioningly parrot puritanical and colonially imposed Victorian values.
Sexuality is a private issue that should be between two consenting adults. Sexual orientation is also fluid, for some more than others. One’s sexual orientation if it differs from others is not due to manipulative organizations or conniving agendas but simply due to the fact that we are all, as human beings, complex creatures with multiple identities. Just as much as the search for, and worse, belief in the purity of a race is the foundations of genocide, racism and exclusion, the Daily Mirror’s obnoxious conflation of normality with heterosexuality suggests an Editor partial to violence based on sexual orientation.
Given that the Wijeya Newspaper group, which publishes the Daily Mirror, was the exclusive print media partner of Pride Week events including ‘Rainbow Runway’, a fashion and drag show, and has (courageously) featured advertising campaigns against homophobia in the past, this Editorial is not just deeply insulting to the reader, it is blatantly hypocritical by the paper’s own standards. Beyond its abominable take on homosexuality, this Editorial is also a damning indictment of the professionalism and competence of Sri Lanka’s mainstream media, where Editorial oversight – such as it exists – countenances the publication of mindless drivel and hearsay as informed opinion.
It is this that is abnormal, not the sexuality of our fellow citizens.
Well I am not exposed to the gay “scene” in Sri Lanka, but it seems from that editorial, gays have a lot of freedom in SL now. That must be why the homophobes are freaked. So I guess one positive thing that is evident from the editorial’s publication is that they are out and proud.
The inside story on this is that the editor of the DM has a long standing grudge against a columnist in the paper, who also runs the society magazine of the Wijeya Group. Apparently there’s a feeling about the news-desk that this columnist has been overstepping her boundaries and intruding on the editor’s space. It is also this columnist who has been securing DM and WIjeya backing for events such as Pride Week and arranging for gay activists to have their voice heard through the DM.
This hateful editorial is actually an attack on the columnist and her friends in the gay community and in Colombo elite circles. Why? Because… well… the editor doesn’t like them. She isn’t even aware of the damage that she’s doing to the gay rights movement, and her own reputation.
It speaks of the editor’s inferiority complex as much as it speaks of her homophobia. It’s sad that this lady is Sri Lanka’s RSF rep.
I was flabbergasted when I read the Editorial and then so annoyed that I wrote an opinion piece on it.
What was especially devious about this piece of work was how it carefully attempted to appeal to the extreme right/nationalists and the lot by weaving in the two things that arouse their passion; diplomats and NGOs. I wonder what the real reason for the article is.
Until now I thought DM’s main problems were it’s terrible website and poor content (as opposed to the Island, which I don’t always agree with but which I read for it’s content) but now it seems that they have an identity crisis to deal with as well.
I dont see anything wrong with the editorial. The editor simply says that there is a trend to promote homosexuality, what is wrong with saying that?
How does one promote homosexuality? Are there adverts asking people to give up their expensive wives and get a cheaper male one, just think less money on hair products! It just wouldn’t work.
You can’t persuade someone to change their sexuality. With enormous pressure you can get gay people to marry straight people of the opposite sex, it doesn’t make them straight, it just makes them and their spouse miserable.
History is there to be learned from, the third gender was a part of South Asian culture for a very long time before foreign missionaries changed attitudes. Same sex relationships are not a Western Invention, the earliest known gay couple were two ancient Egyptian Hair dressers who were buried together as a couple, long before white men walked on Adam’s Peak. They were given the respect they deserved as a loving couple. Sri Lanka does have a very ancient civilization, and ancient civilizations tend to be more tolerant of different ways of living.
Desire might be the basic for all human suffering, but it is not illegal to have marriage, sex or children, likewise it should not be against the law to have love and make it with an adult who also wants the same. Lets save the anger for people who have sex with children, that really causes real suffering, anxiety and a very messed up head for the rest of that person’s life. If society was more open you would be shocked at how many people there are that have suffered from abuse. Fifty years on I could dissolve in a puddle of tears thanks to my dirty uncle. By the way before that all started, long before that, I would shuffle around in my mother’s shoes and loved pretty sari fabrics. No one promoted or made me gay. It’s who I am.
I commend the writer of this article for her bravery. As a leading Newspaper DM doesn’t have a role in promoting hate against people based on their sexual identity.
@ Anonymous – How exactly can anyone ‘promote’ homosexuality? It is not a disease, trend or even a so called ‘lifestyle’ for that matter, but merely a person’s sexual orientation. What is wrong with the editorial is that the editor is sharing an uneducated opinion as if it were facts set in stone.
Commending the writer of this post. It is so true that especially in news media where articles published need to be factual as people who read them learn from it. So the publisher should be very careful what he/she releases as the newspaper’s opinion becomes the public’s opinion after a while. When someone is publishing an article about an issue that they are entirely unfamiliar with, they should get a professional opinion on it before forming their own. The editor is not justified here, and it is utterly irresponsible journalism, if journalism at all.
An editorial shows a newspaper’s policies – so what does this say for the Daily Mirror? This is more like a gossip column than an editorial article! Hopefully, the newspaper will take measures to correct their wrongs, instead of continuing their double standards and losing the trust of their readers.
I am not going to argue about the hypocrisy of the paper or the editorials apparent need to live in the stone age and pay no heed to the way the world turns, right here, right now. Its as baffling as a Mervyn Silva episode. But what I do want to say is that an editorial of a respected daily such as the Daily mirror needs to keep that respect going. It doesn’t matter if one is gay or straight to figure out how low the editor has gone with this. Its just a bunch of baseless allegations, paranoia, mis information, personal agenda’s, confusion all rolled into one! Not something I would have expected to see in my preferred newspaper. especially not in the editorial.
Please uncross those wires and stand by what is right. If u r confused seek saner council. Just dont make it any worse for any minority who have to deal with so much more injustice and discrimination just cuz u folk are loony or too lazy to separate fact from fiction!
A well written post. Having read the editorial myself, I was shocked that a reputed newspaper would permit such trash to be passed off as their editorial opinion! The editor obviously is someone who doesn’t put much stock in researching the material that he / she writes about.
Even a schoolboy could have come up with a better balanced and more informative essay just by Googling some facts before putting pen to paper!
Shame on you Daily Mirror for permitting such narrow minded and vindictive thoughts to be published as your official opinion.
P.S. It was even more shocking to see that the Daily Mirror also declined to publish even a single comment that was made on their site. Aren’t the newspapers supposed to be the guardians and champions of free speech in this country?
I saw this on the Daily Mirror online. However, as far as I know, the DM online and the DM newspaper function as two separate entities with different editors and editorials. At least, this is what I’ve come to believe after reading the two for a long time. But did this actually appear in the print edition as well?
This appeared in the print edition as well.
Thank you Nazeeya. We needed this objective response to a diatribe that however poorly written and devoid of reason still sadly resonates with the English speaking people of our country. The gay community in Sri Lanka is far from out and proud. Colombo may have a smattering of high profile individuals who suggest otherwise, but the truth is that gay men and women across Sri Lanka live in fear of discovery and ridicule. The Kinsey scale (http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/research/ak-hhscale.html) suggests that 3-4% of any population is gay. Do the math. Let’s even drop it to 1% for Sri Lanka… that’s still 200,000 people. Do homophobics and god botherer’s really believe this is the devil’s work? How long do we go on embracing a Victorian culture to our breast, stroke its head and call it our own? We need to evolve. Just as we evolved to accept the prudery of Mrs.Brown and decided the ‘native custom’ of two brothers marrying the same woman was not cricket after all…
“Though I am not homosexual in my sexual orientation, I do not believe in the pre-ordained sexuality proposed by the Daily Mirror editorial or the argument that homosexuality is somehow unnatural.”
Why did the author feel the need to come out of the closet about her own non-homosexual status?