The reaction to the PinkNews scandal reeks of homophobia

A bombshell investigation by the BBC has revealed multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against Benjamin Cohen, the CEO of LGBT media organisation PinkNews, and his husband, Anthony James, the company’s COO. 

The duo have been accused by former staff members of, among other things, behaving inappropriately towards younger male staff. 

The BBC reported that five former members of staff said that they had seen Anthony James groping and kissing a junior staff member who they said was ‘too drunk to stand or talk’ and ‘unable to consent’. 

It’s a huge disappointment to read the allegations, which the couple say are false, and I commend the whistleblowers who were able to bring this story to light. 

Everyone deserves to be able to feel safe at work, and many at PinkNews clearly didn’t feel this was the case. 

Looking online to try and get a better understanding of the story and the context, from within and outside of the LGBT+ community, I was sad to see that many are using these allegations to pursue an agenda against queer people and queer media. 

‘Anyone surprised?’ 

‘Glorious to see, all turning on each other.’

A quick search turned up hundreds more posts along the same lines and much worse, and it was incredibly depressing to see. 

There were people implying a link between the sexuality of the alleged perpetrators and their misconduct, with one even saying ‘The LGBT movement is a sexual harassment campaign.’

I’ve seen posts that suggest that this proves gay men shouldn’t be parents.

The usual suspects are taking this opportunity to pursue a vendetta against queer-run media – not because they care about the alleged victims (who are not mentioned or considered in any of the tweets I’ve seen), but because they see an opening to score points for their anti-queer agenda. 

Obviously, this is just plain bigotry; taking an individual’s alleged actions and using it to tarnish an entire identity group is as despicable as it is moronic.

There seems to be a real emboldening of this kind of prejudice. 

I’ve certainly noticed X descending further into this sort of thing as moderation on the platform is deliberately diminished, but have seen plenty of horrible comments on other social sites as well. 

Just yesterday, someone on Instagram suggested I should be shot against a wall for daring to appear in public in drag. Messages like this don’t even faze me anymore – I’m so used to it.

These voices seem to be getting louder, and social media companies seem unable or (more likely) unwilling to do anything about it. 

The reactions I’ve seen to the PinkNews scandal have shown me how much we still need queer-media. 

We still desperately need queer focused media to tell our stories, and to champion our causes and to push back against these online bigots. 

We need a media that we know we can trust with our narrative, that doesn’t have a bias against us, when so many parts of the media still do. And we clearly, based on the above, still have many hearts and minds to win over, which makes the PinkNews scandal all the more damaging. 

PinkNews was very supportive of me during my trial against Laurence Fox, and helped spread the good news of that victory for the queer community. 

They’ve been a useful source of information during election season, when they press politicians on their LGBT policies and they have held our important institutions, like Stonewall, to account. There are great writers and journalists at the company doing vital work.

And so it’s just so dispiriting to read these allegations against the men in charge.

There are very few queer-focused news outlets in existence anymore – and what we have is under threat due to a constantly shifting economics of the digital media landscape.

All that said, we also need to hold our queer media to an incredibly high standard.

These new allegations come after a year of controversy for the news site. 

Allegations of bullying at the PinkNews office have been circulating for some time. In August, Press Gazette reported one former employee saying ‘It was the most damaging place for me, mentally, that I’ve been.’

Suffice to say, I have had some concerns about PinkNews for some time, and now we have these new allegations of sexual misconduct, which, if they have any credence, feel like the final nail in the coffin. 

I’m dismayed to see one of our flagship queer news sites mired in all of this controversy.

Despite us needing queer media now more than ever, if there is any truth in the allegations against PinkNews, then they’re not fit for purpose to be representing our community under the current leadership. 

I sincerely hope the site will find a way to continue, whether that’s through a sale or under new leadership, but clearly, a reckoning is due.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk. 

Share your views in the comments below.