Gately Widower Loses Press Complaint

The widower of Boyzone member Stephen Gately has lost his complaint against Daily Mail columnist Jan Moir, who wrote the day before Gately's funeral that his October death was not "natural" and "a little sleazy."

According to Reuters UK, Britain's Press Complaints Commission dismissed the complaint from widower Andrew Cowles on Thursday, saying that columnists should be allowed to offend.

"In its ruling, the PCC said it had not upheld the complaint from Cowles, saying columnists should be allowed to air their views, however contentious," reported Reuters UK.

The 33-year-old Gately died while on holiday on the Spanish island of Majorca, with a postmortem concluding that the cause of death was fluid on the lungs.

In an article headlined "A Strange, Lonely and Troubling Death," Moir wrote that the death struck "another blow to the happy-ever-after myth of civil partnerships."

Thousands of people wrote to the PCC to object to what appeared to be an attempt to blame Gately's death on his homosexuality.

Moir eventually apologized to Gately's family for the timing of her column.