RIP Stephen Gately-Part 2

"The world has lost one of it's brightest stars, we have lost our brother,"

Those heart-felt words were spoken by Ronan Keating at the funeral of fellow bandmate Stephen Gately at the St Laurence O'Toole Church in Ireland today.

His funeral is one of the biggest events in the music world, with messages of condolences coming from various performing artists as George Michael, David and Victoria Beckham, Simon Cowell, Take That, Westlife, U2, Robbie Williams, Cheryl Cole, Colin Farrell, Sharon Osborne, Brian McFadden and Delta Goodrem.

Gately's parents Margaret and Martin and his siblings Mark, Alan, Tony, and Michelle all attended the funeral along with his partner, Andrew Cowles.

Post-mortem tests have revealed that Mr. Gately died from natural causes, specifically from a condition known as pulmonary oedema.

In the meantime, a column by Jan Moir of the Daily Mail has sparked much criticism from Gately's fanbase. The reporter is accused of homophobia particularly by her claim that Gately's death is not natural.

"Her evidence for that claim is non-existent. Instead, she resorts to innuendo and goes on to make a leap of stunning illogicality by suggesting that the death "strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships."" Roy Greenslade writes in his blog for the Guardian Unlimited.

Another statment in Moir's article that has garnered controversy is shown below:

"Once again, under the carapace of glittering, hedonistic celebrity, the ooze of a very different and more dangerous lifestyle has seeped out for all to see."

Greenslade refers to this statement as "a final, breathtaking statement of unalloyed homophobia"

In the meantime, Jan Moir has written in her defense that "...it seems unlikely to me that what took place in the hours immediately preceding Gately's death - out all evening at a nightclub, taking illegal substances, bringing a stranger back to the flat, getting intimate with that stranger - did not have a bearing on his death."

Furthermore, Ms. Moir insisted that when she wrote "...that 'it strikes another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships'" she meant "that civil partnerships - the introduction of which I am on the record in supporting - have proved just to be as problematic as marriages."

Sources:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8311894.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2009/oct/16/dailymail-stephen-gately
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1220756/A-strange-lonely-troubling-death--.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/oct/16/jan-moir-stephen-gately-response