Press Council: No discrimination by Blick am Abend
The Swiss Press Council has rejected a complaint lodged by the Swiss gay rights group Juso Schweiz against Blick am Abend. It considers it problematic, but not discriminatory in this specific case, to use generalized clichés about homosexuals in a lifestyle report about summer fashion.
In June 2010, Blick am Abend reported on summer fashion trends from Milan. The items of clothing and fashion accessories shown in the article "Achtung Männer, Tunten-Falle!" were divided into the two categories "cool" and "gay" and commented on as to whether they could be worn "without hesitation" or were not recommended. Gaynossinnen Juso Schweiz, a working group of Juso Switzerland, complained to the Press Council about the "homophobic and discriminatory" report, which gave a positive rating to garments for "real men" and a negative rating to those for "gays".
The plenary session of the Press Council discussed the complaint controversially, the supervisory body said in its statement. Together with the title, the report conveys the message to the readership, based on generalizing prejudices about homosexuals, to be careful when choosing clothes not to walk around the way gays supposedly typically dress. With this thrust, the report suggests to a certain extent that gays are not real "men" and thus collectively degrades the minority of homosexual men. For a minority of the Press Council, the report is therefore discriminatory.
A majority of the Press Council finds the use of generalized clichés about homosexuals problematic. However, the report in the free newspaper does not focus on the contrast between "gay" and "non-gay", but rather on the assessment of current fashion trends from the subjective perspective of a journalist. Blick am Abend had therefore not exceeded the relatively high threshold for discrimination.
