Monitor; All the News of the World: "outing" homosexuals

Editorial views on the highly charged issue of

"outing" gays and lesbians in public life

The Guardian

THE SUN is not just out of touch, it is also wrong. The "fears" of a homosexual cabal are baloney. The politicians it names do not form a single coherent faction: on the contrary, they could all be identified with competing elements within the Cabinet. Nor are they a secret society: after all, being gay is not like joining the masons, where one chooses to become a member. The Sun's effort is in the worst tradition of conspiracy theories through the ages. Such a tactic has no place in our national dialogue.

u

Daily Mail

TOWARDS THE idea of reducing the age of homosexual consent, hostility remains strong. Given this deep and abiding repugnance towards a measure sought by only a small minority in the country, the Government's stubborn determination to get it onto the statute book is almost inexplicable. An administration so adroit at interpreting the popular mood would surely be wise to think again. After all, it is now generally known that of the 17 men in the Cabinet before the Davies resignation, at least four, almost 25 per cent were homosexual. If the voters were to form the resentful suspicion that there is a connection between that statistic and the strange unwillingness to heed public feeling on this emotive issue, ministers would have only themselves to blame.

u

The Sun

IS BRITAIN being run by a gay Mafia of politicians, lawyers, Palace courtiers, TV bigwigs - or even police officers? The public has a right to know how many homosexuals occupy positions of high power. Their sexuality is not the problem. The worry is their membership of a closed world of men with a mutual self-interest. Only the whole truth - not the partial truth Downing Street has been dispensing - will clear the air. We have a right to know about secret liaisons which might explain why certain policies are persistently pursued. Honest politicians have nothing to fear from the truth. To others who tremble to tell the real story, we simply say: come out and end the doubt.

u

The Mirror

THE WAVE of sentiment which carried Tony Blair to power and swept the nation after Diana's death showed how compassionate we have become. It is a fresh spirit in tune with the times and the birth of a new century and millennium. There can be no room for narrow-minded bigotry which scars those who hold it as well as those who are its victims. A growing majority are willing to judge people on what they do, not on what they are.