Talk:Nigel Slater

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[edit] Nigel Slater Job

Hi Publife Thanks for reverting the Observer job. My mistake. Does Slater still write for Harpers and Queen and GQ btw ? Jem 16:29, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

  • Cheers Jem, the answer to your question is, I dunno. And I'm not going to buy a copy of either any time soon, so I've changed it to 'has contributed to'. BTW, why no user page?! PubLife 09:08, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Openly Gay #2

Yes, Mr Slater did give an interview to a gay magazine and yes, his memoir does contain references to sexual experiences with people of both genders, but the assertion that he is 'openly gay' is not in line with Wikipedia's policies on biographies of living persons. He may be 'allegedly gay' but as his entry stands right now it is potentially libelous.Alawyer 19:38, 5 July 2007 (UTC)alawyer

Well thank you for finally talking about this. Let me be clear in what you are saying: are you saying that the statements about his sexuality are poorly sourced? If so, are you not satisfied with the article in AfterElton.com, which is an interview that he agreed to give and states "Openly gay food writer" ? If that's the case I can see your side of the argument and if no other sources can be found, maybe it could be reworded somewhat. I will look to see if there are any better sources when I have time (not today...) --Belovedfreak 09:59, 6 July 2007 (UTC)
I'm concerned about the way this article is being handled. It seems to be semi- (or fully-) protected because a) there are reports that the subject is gay, b) those reports have been properly sourced. Why, then, does the article need to be "protected"? And why has no one explained that protection here on the article's talk page? -- SatyrTN (talk | contribs) 00:38, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
Sorry, it's an m:OTRS thing. I hope to have things dealt with soon, without any sort of Streisand effect backlash; to be brief, it appears that AfterElton.com's description of him is in error. I'm working on getting things cleaned up, and I apologize for any distress this may have caused you - I left a message for Belovedfreak, but didn't realize that you were involved also. DS 01:17, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
Gotcha. So the reference in his memoir is okay to use? -- SatyrTN (talk | contribs) 02:13, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

*unhappy gesture* Apparently not. Just because his published memoirs mention that he has had sexual experiences with other males, that doesn't mean he's actually "gay" - orientation isn't a binary thing, or even ternary, and even the Kinsey Scale has been criticized as being insufficiently continuous and time-bound. If you'll examine the AfterElton interview, you'll note that the interviewer didn't actually ask about being gay/bi.

I realize this may sound like I'm being defensive of him; the thing is, Slater wrote in to OTRS to complain. I've been dealing with him, and he was aware of how AfterElton described him, and he was upset but figured it wasn't worth the hassle to get it corrected because he had no idea we would use AE as a source - and his girlfriend (!) was quite distraught to see "openly gay" in the article. Our policy is that we don't categorize living people as being LGBT unless, and only unless, they describe themselves as such - when the Mark Foley scandal broke, we did not describe Foley as gay until he publicly stated it. Slater isn't the one who used the phrase "openly gay"; Gregg Shapiro is. Did Slater not realize why a gay-themed website would be interviewing him? Apparently, gay newspapers/magazines in the UK interview people of all orientations, based solely on whether they're interesting.

Slater says that AE's description of him as "openly gay" is erroneous. Since "openly" is, in this context, synonymous with "admittedly", his denial of this statement is sufficient to prove it false. Further speculation about whether he is gay at all, or bisexual, or has a thing for traffic cones, can be no more than that: speculation. As such, it can't be in the article; I locked it down so as to prevent edit wars while all this was being settled.

Okay? DS 14:53, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, DS, for explaining so well. The reason I asked is because I and many other editors from the LGBT WikiProject are in the middle of reviewing people in LGBT-related categories. As such, I'm fully aware of WP:BLP requirements and how they relate to LGBT cats/tags/issues :)
Thanks again for clarifying! -- SatyrTN (talk | contribs) 15:54, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
Wow, who'd have thought? Gonna have to be way more careful which sources we trust. Anyway, I've removed him from the List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people. --Belovedfreak 16:43, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

It should probably be pointed out that the only mention of his being ‘openly gay’ seems to be the headline on a gay website used to flag up an interview with him. There is no other.

The sexual activity in his childhood memoir is almost exclusively heterosexual with the exception of a single gay kiss and the odd bit of ‘youthful experimentation’.

It is worth noting that Nigel Slater has never publicly discussed his adult sexuality. He simply does not talk about his private life. Thanks. Calming 12:19, 11 July 2007 (UTC)calmer

However, interviewers of his books and columns have stated his curious use of "we", which makes it worthy to note some sort of relationship, however unstated otherwise; also the interview he gave afterelton is not in dispute; it is afterelton's description of him as "openly gay"; his comments on other subjects and aspects of his life remain valid and are used in this article with links; therefore, the afterelton misidentification needs to be addressed in the article, as well as a link or footnote re Slater's disputation of that misidentification.67.142.130.12 17:31, 4 November 2007 (UTC)