Scottish Sun columnist, Bill Leckie, has had his name withdrawn from a Journalist of the Year shortlist, in an awards competition run by the lesbian, gay and bisexual charity, Stonewall.
The competition – which will unveil its winners on the fourth of next month – had initially chosen Leckie among its nominees as Journalist of the Year for a sympathetic article he had written about gay rugby league star, Gareth Thomas.
But, reports the gay news service, Pink News, 'trans campaigners' complained about two other articles by Leckie, one allegedly poking fun at a drag queen bingo night, the other about trans prisoners.
Leckie told allmediascotland.com: “My understanding from Stonewall was that I'd been nominated for their Journalist of the Year award because of a column I wrote supporting the decision of Welsh rugby internationalist Gareth Thomas to come out as gay.
“I was quite chuffed about that. So I'm equally disappointed to then find out I've been dropped from their list – without them telling me – because of complaints from a handful of people about something I wrote three years ago.
“I'd have thought they might have had a little more backbone than that, but hey ho.”
It means the shortlist has been whittled down to four: John Cross, Caitlin Moran, Martin Popplewell and Patrick Strudwick.
