1 min read
ByJennifer Lipman, Jennifer Lipman
The Mail has a story today about the gay couple, Steven Preddy and Martin Hall, who were awarded £1,800 after winning their case against the hotel owners who refused to let them share a room.
Peter and Hazelmary Bull, a Christian couple, turned the civil partners away after they realised that the booking was not for a husband and wife.
In my view, this is a victory against discrimination. But the Mail has focused on the story in a slightly different way, headlining it: "'Now some people are more equal than others': Despair of Christian hotel owners penalised for turning away gays".
I disagree with the stance, but many others probably feel the same way and the Mail has a responsibility to address the concerns of its readership. But that's not what I find objectionable.
No, it's the cartoon about the case that I see as problematic - you can see it here - lampooning the couple as a tattoo heavy biker duo, one with a swastika drawn on his arm.
I don't really get where the cartoonist was going with it, but it's unnecessary, offensive to both gay and Jewish people in my view - and it's not the sort of thing I expect to see on the pages of a national newspaper in 2011.