In 2006, two tabloid newspapers, the News of the World and The Sun , published false allegations about two unnamed Premiership footballers having a gay orgy with a DJ, using a pixelated photograph of footballer Ashley Cole to illustrate the story. PinkNews published what it claimed to be the unpixelated original photograph. Cole, along with the DJ, Masterstepz, sued the tabloids' parent company News International and won at least £100,000 plus legal costs. [11]
Stonewall
PinkNews reported heavily on the refusal of Stonewall, an LGBTQ+ rights group, to actively campaign for gay marriage prior to October 2010. [12] A poll commissioned by PinkNews and answered by more than 800 of their readership found 98% in support of marriage equality. [12] Stonewall was also criticised by a former founder, Michael Cashman, MEP [12] in an op-ed for PinkNews entitled "What part of 'equality' can't Stonewall understand?" [13] Stonewall CEO, Ben Summerskill later accused PinkNews of running an "unethical campaign" against Stonewall after asking every LGBT organisation and political group to outline their stance on the issue, with only Stonewall refusing to comment. In October 2010, Stonewall revised its policy and agreed to support same-sex marriage. [14] [15] On 25 April 2012 PinkNews began using a video for the Coalition for Equal Marriage in their advertising space, wrote articles in support of it and gave it their official backing, encouraging readers to respond to the government consultation to show their opinions. [16] [17]
PinkNews regularly reported on the progress of the Out4Marriage campaign, which was started in May 2012 and launched by Mike Buonaiuto and PinkNews founder, Benjamin Cohen. The campaign used YouTube videos of people supporting equal marriage, including celebrities and Members of Parliament, finishing with the line "And that's why I'm out for marriage. Are you?". The Out4Marriage YouTube campaign reached 14 million views in just three weeks from launch. [18] [19] [20] PinkNews was an official supporter of the Coalition for Equal Marriage (C4EM), a counter-organisation to the Coalition for Marriage, and successfully petitioned for the introduction of same-sex marriage rights in England and Wales, while the Coalition for Marriage campaigned against it. [21]
PinkNews began to collaborate closely with Stonewall following the departure of Summerskill in 2014. PinkNews had regularly reported criticism of Stonewall for its refusal to campaign on transgender issues. [22] A year later, under Chief Executive Ruth Hunt, Stonewall decided to begin campaigning on transgender issues. [23] Hunt has written for PinkNews on a number of occasions. [24]
In 2017, Stonewall and PinkNews co-hosted an election hustings. [25]
