Should Gay People Be Put to Death? Just Ask the BBC

It might be time for some sensitivity training for the editorial staff of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The BBC put a poll out today that asked its readership what they thought about putting gay people to death. Seriously, BBC? That's something that should be debated?

Cue the international flak and condemnation. Sure, the question was meant to address Uganda's efforts to criminalize homosexuality with the death penalty and life imprisonment, but the question posed by the BBC was pretty much an epic FAIL. The very premise behind asking whether gay people should be executed sends the message that the topic is up for debate.

Let's be clear, both for the BBC and the people who commented on the poll by saying that they'd like to see gay people killed: executing folks because of their sexual orientation is abhorrent. Not even Fox News would stoop so low as to ask their readership or viewership whether gay folks should be slaughtered.

Send a message to the BBC right now, letting them know that polls like this are unacceptable and offensive, and demand that the BBC apologize for suggesting that an entire population of folks should be murdered.

After catching what my grandmother would have dubbed "holy hell" from folks, the BBC changed the title of the poll question from "Should homosexuals face execution?" to "Should Uganda debate gay execution?" That's kind of like trading salmonella for e coli. And folks read right through it.

After a significant drubbing, the BBC closed debate on the poll. But not before a few doosies got put up on the comments thread. Way to serve as a vehicle for obsessive hatred, BBC.

"Bravo to the Ugandians for this wise decision, a bright step in eliminating this menace from your society.
We hope other African nations will also follow your bold step," wrote Aaron P. in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Or how about David from Uganda: "God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. What the Ugandan parliament is doing is to protect the traditional moral heritage of its people. The backstabbers, as gays are sometimes described, can best be described as social misfits, who need to be isolated 'permanently' between four walls."

And then to top it off with a homophobic cherry, here's Chris from Guildford in the United Kingdom: "If homosexuality is natural, as we are forced to believe, how can they sustain the species? I suggest all gays are put on a remote island somewhere and left for a generation - afterwhich, theoretically there shoild (sic) be none left!"

Those three message were brought to you courtesy of the BBC. Maybe tomorrow they'll ask people "Is it ever OK to conduct genocide?"

A few politicians in the UK blasted the BBC, including liberal Democrat Lynne Featherstone, who said "I would be the first person to stand up for open debate and free speech, but any conversation that starts 'should homosexuals face execution' is completely skewed and unacceptable in this forum."

Are you fed up, too? Send a message to the BBC saying that this poll demands an apology from the company. A cosmetic change to the title is simply not enough of a gesture, certainly not after asking whether an entire population of people should be murdered.

(Photo courtesy of the BBC.)