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She faces stiff competition tonight from the Westboro Baptist Church, among others
Jan Moir
Jan Moir is late nominee for Stonewall Bigot of the Year
The Daily Mail's Jan Moir has been added to the list of nominees for Stonewall's Bigot of the Year award, following her column of last month headlined: "Why there was nothing 'natural' about Stephen Gately's death."
The Press Complaints Commission reportedly received 25,000 complaints about the article, which described his death as "sleazy" and said that it "strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after-myth of civil partnerships"; comparing it to the suicide of Kevin McGee, the former civil partner of Matt Lucas.
It was published the day before his funeral and three days after the postmortem's finding that he died of natural causes. Moir defended the article, denying it had "homophobic and bigoted undertones", but later apologised to Gately's family and friends for its "insensitive timing".
A Stonewall spokesman said that the charity's supporters, who vote for the Bigot of the Year, had called for Moir to be nominated. He also said she had been invited to tonight's ceremony, but it wasn't known whether she would attend.
The other nominees for Bigot of the Year are the Westboro Baptist Church duo, Fred Phelps and Shirley Roper-Phelps, who picket the funerals of AIDS victims bearing "God Hates Fags" placards, BBC presenter DJ Spoony, who said that attractive women should be "saved" for straight men, Father John Owen, who claimed most paedophiles were gay men, Dr Sheila Matthews, who refused to approve same-sex couples to adopt, and the Bishop of Winchester, who claimed in the House of Lords that homosexuality was a personal choice.
Tonight's fourth annual Stonewall Awards ceremony, sponsored by Barclays, will be held at the V&A in London, with Gok Wan hosting.
