12/01/2020
For LGBT media watchers, the sudden turning of the British tabloid papers from their frequently slavish devotion to the Royal Family, to vicious denunciations of Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex, Megan Markle, has been most instructive. For some people reflecting on social media, the fact that papers such as the Daily Mail and the Daily Express have turned so decisively on the Royal Family in its current crisis, is testament to the fact that these reactionary tabloids pander the worst excesses of public prejudice. Some people suggest that there has always been an undercurrent of anger about the fact that Harry married a woman of colour and the fact that both Duke and Duchess supported minority rights including LGBTQ freedom and the rights of those living with HIV. This narrative was taken up by several columnists writing in the liberal daily paper The Guardian. Motormouth breakfast television demagogue Piers Morgan was apopleptic with rage at the Duke and Duchess and their decision to retire from frontline royal duties. Mr Morgan, who is a presenter on ITV's “Good Morning Britain” programme, is known for his angry outbursts, and was quoted by the Metro newspaper as using such terms as “pathetic” to describe the Royals in a lengthy rant. Although LGBTQ people have a wide variety of opinions on the Royal Family, with some supporting the anti-monarchist network called Republic, and others pledging allegiance to the crown, there were several who took to social media with the cheeky reminder to Piers Morgan that attacking the monarchy verbally was still technically an offence punishable with execution by medieval statute. They said that they looked forward to Mr Morgan's head being displayed, old fashioned style, on a spike at the Tower of London, whilst vultures pecked at his vacant eye sockets. Mr Morgan's decapitated head might join that of another treasonous windbag, as anti-gay fantasist Anne Widdecombe has also previously attacked the Royal Family for their embracing of diversity.
