Daily Mail sparks outrage after implying Stephen Fry & Elliott Spencer aren’t truly ‘married’
By Ben Kelly
Eagle-eyed readers of the Daily Mail today noticed a snub directed towards Stephen Fry, in which his husband was referred to inside inverted commas.
A story about the QI host’s move to America read: “Stephen Fry, 58, is to move to LA with his ‘husband’, aspiring comedian Elliott Spencer, 28.”
Fry and Spencer married legally in the UK on 17 January 2015.
Why is husband in quotation marks, @DailyMailUK? pic.twitter.com/KvVcQSLf48
— Sarah Elizabeth Cox (@spookyjulie) March 3, 2016
The story fell within the sidebar column of journalist Ephraim Hardcastle, who Twitter user Sarah Cox claims has previously referred to Elton John as David Furnish’s ‘wife’.
.@katemond @Verity_Holloway @DailyMailUK The same writer has previously described Elton John as David Furnish’s ‘wife’..
— Sarah Elizabeth Cox (@spookyjulie) March 3, 2016
It also appears on the Mail Online today
, with the inverted commas replicated in the photo credit.
Fry and Spencer married in January last year at Fry’s local registry in Dereham, Norfolk, after first being romantically linked in summer 2014. Fry later admitted he was a “very, very happy” man, and shared a picture of the couple signing the wedding register together – something which made them husbands in the eyes of the law, not ‘husbands’, we might add.
Twitter users commented on the perceived double standard implied by the use of the inverted commas.
Vestiges of inequality linger in seen and unseen, spoken and unspoken, tone and lack of tone, gestures & quotes. https://t.co/siS1pSNJoC
— Caprice Roberts (@capricelroberts) March 3, 2016
This why “equal” “rights” is “crucial” .. Daily Mail on Stephen Fry & “husbands” move. #lgbt #equality pic.twitter.com/HEMKLfChKy
— Geoffrey E Hill (@PalaeoEnto) March 3, 2016
STAY CLASSY: Daily Mail gossip columnist @sebshakespeare implies that Stephen Fry’s marriage isn’t ‘real.’ pic.twitter.com/X309VhxpyC
— The DM Reporter (@DMReporter) March 3, 2016
According to the ‘Ephraim Hardcastle’ column in the ‘@DailyMailUK‘, Stephen Fry has a ‘husband’. Nice pic.twitter.com/riIr5L8iQc
— Danny Boyle (@DannyBoyle87) March 3, 2016
Attitude have reached out to the Daily Mail for comment.
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