Web users on sites such as Twitter and Facebook have reacted angrily to Jan Moir's attack on the late Stephen Gately in today's Daily Mail.
Moir linked Gately's "strange and lonely death" to the fact that he was gay.
Whatever the cause of death is, it is not, by any yardstick, a natural one. Let us be absolutely clear about this. All that has been established so far is that Stephen Gately was not murdered.
She concluded:
As a gay rights champion, I am sure he would want to set an example to any impressionable young men who may want to emulate what they might see as his glamorous routine.
For once again, under the carapace of glittering, hedonistic celebrity, the ooze of a very different and more dangerous lifestyle has seeped out for all to see.
By 3pm the article itself had attracted more than 500 comments on the Mail website.
On Twitter janmoir – which appears to be a spoof account created today – and #janmoir are busy with activity. Here is a sample of the tweets:
fionamlryan: #JanMoir I don't like Boyzone, and had no opinion on Stephen Gately, but this is a truly despicable piece of journalism
TaraFlynn: The nuns always told us that sex was bad. I'm still a little surprised that it's punishable by death. #janmoir
jontypryor: is about to have a bath. I may drown. Y'know, cos I'm gay... (kudos to @kevpeel) #janmoir
grabcocque: It's the kind of article that makes you want a shower after reading it. If you happen to know #JanMoir, do your duty by giving her a slap.
Moir's name charted over Britain on real-time Twitter mapping tool Trendsmap and a Facebook page has been set up asking the Daily Mail to "retract Jan Moir's hateful, homophobic article".
In addition it provides phone numbers to contact brands with ads appearing alongside Moir's piece on the Mail website.
Celebrities are also weighing in. On Twitter, Derren Brown has urged people to "complain where it matters", with a link to the Press Complaints Commission website; while Stephen Fry tweeted: "I gather a repulsive nobody writing in a paper no one of any decency would be seen dead with has written something loathsome and inhumane."
Our own press blogger Roy Greenslade is one of several commentators to have criticised Moir's article.
