The Sunday Sun‘s ”half-hearted” apology for publishing a column disparaging of gay people was ”inadequate”, the Jo’burg Gay Pride Festival’s board said on Thursday.
It has announced that it intends appealing against the findings of press ombudsman Joe Thloloe.
Thloloe found that, in publishing the column by reporter Jon Qwelane headlined ”Call me names, but gay is NOT okay”, the newspaper had contravened the press code on three counts by:
- publishing denigratory references to people’s sexual orientation;
- implying that gay people were a lower breed than heterosexuals; and
- publishing an accompanying cartoon disparaging of homosexuals.
He ordered that the Sunday Sun publish an appropriate apology to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, to be provided by his office.
”The ‘apology’ finally published by the Sunday Sun was not in the spirit of reconciliation, as it did not apologise for disparaging LGBT people, but merely for ‘upsetting some people’ and contravening the press code,” the festival’s board said in a letter to press appeals panel chairperson Judge Ralph Zulman on Thursday.
”The apology was not drafted by the ombudsman after all. It appears to have been written by the newspaper, and we find that the apology is half-hearted and it is unacceptable in light of the insult to LGBT people.”
In its original complaint, the board described the column as ”a piece that amounts to hate speech”. It contended that the column ”compares homosexual relations to relations between animal and man, and this means that the writer equates homosexuality with bestiality”.
It submitted that comment such as Qwelane’s could incite violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender South Africans.
”It has come to our attention that the press ombudsman and Mr Qwelane are long-term colleagues and friends and we believe in view of this Mr Thloloe should have recused himself from making this ruling as this leads to a perceived bias,” the board wrote in its letter.
”In determining that the column did not constitute ‘hate speech’ nor actively called for harm against gays and lesbians, we believe the ombudsman should have taken account of the recent spate of killings and ‘curative rapes’ of lesbians in particular and realised that in fact, a high-profile personality like Mr Qwelane expressing the opinions that he did could well incite violence amongst followers of his.
”We believe the publication of this column to be discriminatory and inflammatory and to be a violation of the human rights of LGBT persons.
”The apology published is inadequate and only serves to condone the column and its publication, and we have as yet seen no evidence that measures are being implemented to ensure that similar comment is not published in future.”
In analysing the original complaints, Thloloe found that although Qwelane expressed reservations about homosexuality and put down gays and lesbians, he did not advocate hatred or the harming of gays and lesbians. ”It is robust language, but not hate speech,” the press ombudsman said.
Looking at whether the column could lead to violence against gay and lesbian people, Thloloe found that ”[to] me it appears most unlikely”. There was nothing in the column inciting hatred and calling for the harming of homosexuals.
”Columnists are protected by the Constitution for as long as their comments don’t propagate war, incite imminent violence and advocate hatred that constitutes incitement to cause harm. Qwelane was well within the law but fell foul of the press code.”
The Sunday Sun‘s apology, by the newspaper’s publisher, Deon du Plessis, was printed on page 16 of its August 3 edition alongside the Thloloe verdict and was headlined: ”We didn’t break the law, but for our sins I apologise”.
In it, Du Plessis said he was ”sorry that we sinned against the [press] code”.
”The blame for that is as much mine as Jon Qwelane’s. But it IS a significantly lesser offence than the original allegations,” he said.
Du Plessis went on to again say he was sorry. ”And I regret that the uproar clearly hurt some people’s feelings. That is not our mission. And we’ll do all in our power to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again.” — Sapa