WHSmith denies homophobia after Leamington branch takes gay magazines off the shelf

The company was the subject of an outcry on social networking site Twitter on Sunday after one user published a photo of a display telling customers to go to the counter and ask for copies of Gay Times and Attitude magazines.

It says the magazines, along with others, were withdrawn from display because of repeated incidents of shoplifting.

After finding the display in the Parade branch on Sunday, Cambridge writer and singer-songwriter Toby Dylan @twinkleboi tweeted a picture with the words: “So @WHSNewReleases. Care to Explain why you feel the need to do this in your stores?”

Actor Emma Kennedy tweeted “Dear @WHSMITH. Attitude isn’t a porn mag. It’s a mag for the discerninghomosexual gent. They’re not ashamed. So don’t make them feel it.”

Many twitter users voiced their anger, with accusations of insensitivity and homophobia, but staff at both magazines seemed relaxed about the incident. Tweets from @AttitudeMag read: “Think it’s just this one store who say it’s not just us but GT and some other mags which are being shoplifted.

“Smiths supported attitude and GT for many years so we’d be surprised if it’s more than this one-off.”

In a statement that also appeared online, a WHSmith spokeswoman said: “WHSmith is committed to offering its customers choice and has the largest range of magazines on the high street.

“Gay Times and Attitude, along with a small number of other magazines, were temporarily removed from the display shelves in the WHSmith store in Leamington Spa as a result of repeated incidents of theft in this store. This is an isolated case and all these titles are available on display within our extensive magazine range in all WHSmith high street stores.”

Copies of both Gay Times and Attitude were back on display on Monday, but music magazine Jazzwise was not on the shelves, apparently a victim of similar shoplifting.

An unexpected victim of fallout from the furore was twitter user William Smith, an Ohio man whose @whsmith identity describes him as a “God-fearing husband and father and lover of all things tech” who found himself the focus of misdirected righteous fury on Sunday.

Following the company’s explanation, @AttitudeMag posted: “All Ok. We’ve always had a great relationship with Smiths :-)”

The only feather that appeared to have been left ruffled was one common to all journalists - people not paying for their work.

A tweet from @GayTimesMag read: “So stop nicking our mags please, we have small dogs to feed.”