Guardian attacked for false ‘outing’

GAY activists and media ethicists have condemned The Guardian for mistakenly reporting Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart was gay.

Actor Patrick Stewart in Star Trek.

GAY activists and media ethicists have condemned publisher The Guardian for mistakenly reporting Star Trek and X-Men star Patrick Stewart was gay, based on his friendship with openly homosexual English actor Ian McKellen.

After the highly embarrassing error the newspaper was forced to apologise to the thrice-married Stewart, 73, after journalist Jane Czyzselska wrote that he was gay in a story on Canadian actress Ellen Page coming out.

The correction said: “This article was amended on 17 February, 2014. The third paragraph originally said ‘Some gay people, such as Sir Patrick Stewart, think Page’s coming-out speech is newsworthy’. This should have read ‘Some people, such as Sir Patrick Stewart, think Page’s coming-out speech is newsworthy’.”

The gaffe went viral on social media, with many saying the writer misunderstood the nature of Stewart’s friendship with McKellen, the recipient of six Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony and a Golden Globe.

Stewart, also an accomplished stage actor, tweeted: “I have, like, five or even SEVEN hetero friends and we totally drink beer and eat lots of chicken wings!”, before sending a mass tweet that said: “Silly @guardian. You can’t catch gay by hanging out with #LGBT people.”

While Stewart, who married jazz singer Sunny Ozell six months ago, responded with good-humoured tweets, gay activists and ethicists said it was not appropriate for a media organisation to be describing someone by their sexuality, especially when it was incorrect.

Former head of the Australian Medical Association and gay lobbyist Kerryn Phelps said a media company had no business making assumptions about someone’s sexuality.

“It is ridiculous to home in on whether someone may or may not be gay just because they’re spending time with a gay friend,” Professor Phelps said.

“He’s right, it’s not contagious, and that’s my medical opinion.”

Professor Phelps and her now wife, Jackie Stricker-Phelps, were outed by Sydney’s The Sunday Telegraph 16 years ago and recall the intensity of the public scrutiny. “Jackie and I are the only same-sex couple who have been outed in Australia. It still has consequences, both emotional and professional.”

Media Watch host Paul Barry condemned The Guardian for the mistake.

“It’s ethical if it’s relevant,” Barry said. “But this was a nasty little gossip piece. It was irrelevant and wrong.”

Andrew Creagh, the editor of DNA, Australia’s biggest-selling gay magazine, said it was disappointing The Guardian had chosen to guess a celebrity’s sexuality. “You would expect The Guardian to get something like that right,” he said.