Radio Host to Apologize After Anti-Gay Remarks About TV Personalities, Including Carson Kressley

Five years after a pair of radio hosts reportedly made homophobic remarks on air, an Australian radio station has agreed to issue an apology.

The station, Sydney's 2UE, settled with gay equality activist Gary Burns only two days before the case was scheduled to be re-examined on appeal, reported the Herald Sun in a June 16 article.

The article said that the two radio hosts in question, John Laws and Steve Price, made the comments in 2003 while talking about a pair of gay television hosts, Waz and Gav, from a program about home renovation called The Block.

A tribunal found that the remarks were homophobic the year following the on-air remarks, but Laws and Price appealed the decision.

The settlement includes an apology from Price, to be made on-air, plus a written apology meant to be run in a newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald, the article reported.

Also, the radio station will make a charitable donation of $10,000 to the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, which is a HIV/AIDS organization. The foundation will also receive promotional consideration from the station.

Burns praised the outcome, saying in a statement that, "The tribunal's decision still sends a clear message that people in the powerful positions of Mr. Laws and Mr. Price should be aware that they have responsibilities as broadcasters."

Added Burns, "I have been fighting this case for five years, not for any personal financial gain, but on behalf of the gay community and the protection of our rights not to be publicly ridiculed."

Continued Burns, "All I wanted was an apology and now I've got it."

The group general manager of 2UE's parent company, Fairfax Radio, spoke positively as well about the settlement.

Said Graham Mott, "Gary Burns and 2UE have agreed to settle the matter and we're very happy with the outcome."

Continued Mott, "The matter had gone on for some time, and like many matters we get involved in, there comes a point where you consider both sides of the argument and Burns and 2UE agreed it was worth settling."

Mott addressed the general issue of homophobia, while not specifically commenting on the on-air exchange between the two radio hosts in 2003. Said Mott, "I think we're a well-trained organization in regard to [sensitivity issues]."

Added Mott, "Whenever we have these kind of matters we always review our operational procedures and obviously we'll do so."

Burns had taken on the station's Laws with regard to second on-air incident, which occurred in 2004, in which Laws referred to Carson Kressley as a "pompous little pansy prig."

Laws' comments, which were reportedly made on Nov. 3, 2004, also included a reference to Kressley, star of the American TV program Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, as a "pillow biter."

Though Burns had lost that battle with Laws, the tribunal ruled last month that Burns could appeal the original decision, reported the article.

The story cited Laws, who has now retired from broadcasting, as explaining his remarks about Kressley by saying that they were made in a humorous vein.

The article reported that under the terms of the settlement, neither side would continue on with appeals in either incident.