Related article:
MICHAEL STUPARYK/TORONTO STAR
Michael Stark, left, and Michael Lashner pop champagne
and kiss after their wedding ceremony yesterday.
Leshner called the ruling, "Day One for millions of gays
and lesbians around the world."
Posted on 07/06/2003 6:38:29 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Same-sex unions in 'News'Announcements are a 'logical step,' says publisher
07/06/2003
Starting July 6, The Dallas Morning News will publish announcements of same-sex unions. The announcements will run alongside paid marriage and engagement announcements on Sundays.
"The publication of same-sex union announcements is a logical step for The Dallas Morning News to take," says James Moroney III, the paper's publisher and CEO. "We are now in line with practices of most major metropolitan newspapers across the country.
"We convened a meeting of representatives from the Cathedral of Hope as well as four other men and women from various businesses in order to represent a good cross-section of Dallas' gay community," he says.
The paper's parent company, Belo Corp., began offering benefits to same-sex partners of Belo employees in January, and the new policy on union announcements is a natural progression, he says.
Heather Jace of Melissa and her partner, Jandy Jace, are one of the couples running announcements in today's paper.
"We're real happy," says Heather Jace, 25, an office manager. "We want people to know, 'Hey, we're just like you. We've got a house, we've got a job, we have pets, we pay bills.' "
The couple had a small commitment ceremony in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, on June 9, followed by a reception when they returned home. She says she isn't worried about any sort of backlash from the announcement. "I would like to think the community is mature enough to accept it and embrace it," she says.
Vanessa Benavides and Amy Davis, two Dallas attorneys who had a black-tie commitment ceremony in Dallas on June 14, are also buying an announcement. The couple also got married in Canada on June 23, and Ms. Davis took the name Benavides.
"I think it's important to let the community know that we go together, that we have made this commitment," says Vanessa Benavides, 28.
"I think that's the importance of marriages – to have witnesses to know that we've made this commitment together."
The paper's criteria for publishing an announcement are that the ceremony takes place in public, and that somebody officiates.
A two-inch announcement is free, while photos or longer announcements are charged according to size.
The Dallas Morning News joins 205 other papers that publish same-sex union announcements, including 10 in Texas, according to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination, or GLAAD.
"I'm so happy and so glad to hear this," says Monica Taher, people of color media director for GLAAD.
She worked last year on the group's project to get additional papers to publish same-sex union announcements.
The New York Times' decision last August to begin publishing same-sex union announcements was a watershed, she says.
Since then, many more papers have begun publishing such announcements, she says.
At some papers, executives had argued that printing same-sex announcements was tantamount to taking a political stand, but GLAAD representatives responded that not running them was also taking a political stand, she says.
Pamela Strother, executive director of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, also praised The Morning News' new policy.
"It's fantastic that The Dallas Morning News has moved forward on this," she says.
"It shows that a newspaper in a region that might be seen as conservative is willing to step out on this."
NLGJA leaders have also been meeting with newspaper executives, including The New York Times' publisher, says Robert Dodge, last year's president and a writer in The Dallas Morning News' Washington bureau.
"Our work was journalist to journalist, colleague to colleague, behind the scenes," he says.
E-mail amckenzie@dallasnews.com
Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/texasliving/stories/070603dnlivsamesex.a86e9.html
I said to my wife just yesterday..."If these queers keep pushing the envelope, you will see blood in the streets. Mark my words."
FMCDH
Related article:
MICHAEL STUPARYK/TORONTO STAR
Michael Stark, left, and Michael Lashner pop champagne
and kiss after their wedding ceremony yesterday.
Leshner called the ruling, "Day One for millions of gays
and lesbians around the world."
..He said while adding the hyperlink.. LOL!
hehe ! I'm a B-a-a-a-a-d boy !Glad you have a good sense of humor !
. . . I don't ever see heterosexual engagement/marriage photos showing the couple ready to do a lip lock -- it's generally considered tasteless to put on a display for public consumption. So why do gays feel such a deep rooted need to advertise the physical side of their relationship?The Gay Activists use in-your-face style tactics - real hard-core activists I think. Ick and G-R-R-R-R !!
There was never any homosexual marriage, and no "gay" subculture. A married man might have boys on the side.
Here is another article I just got pinged to, speaking of hard-core Gay Activists:The Media's Gay Mafia "Queers" the News
I've read part of it.
Here is an excerpt from the link in post #52:
The gay mafia -- openly gay activists who pass as journalists -- seeks to "out" high-profile, professional athletes as homosexual, in order to mainstream a sexual orientation which most Americans consider perverted, and apparently as an assault on the last preserve of the traditional masculinity they have declared war on. And if no gay superstars are handy, activists will invent some.Once the preserve of despised storm troopers like Rotello and Signorile, the practice of "outing" has since gone mainstream, as activists have taken over major media outlets. However, even bigger problems with the "queering" of the news involve the willful misreporting or outright silencing of important stories.
You have no such right. Only in your house.
This is not a right you have
When it gets to the point where I can't go out in public without having to look at men kissing other men or women pawing other women
Then don't go out. You don't have the right to tell adults that they cannot kiss each other in public.
This is not a right you have.
or when I can't turn on the television or go to the movies without having to see some faggot lust scene
Watch a channel or a movie that doesn't have gays in it. Watch something black and white. Watch G rated Movies. Don't watch TV. You don't have the right to tell the rest of us adults what to watch.
This is not a right you have
then they are infringing on my pursuit of happiness
Ridculuous. You don't have a RIGHT to happiness, only the attempt to obtain it.
There is right and wrong and trying to pretend there isn't doesn't change it.
Correct. Trying to make others obey your moral standards is wrong, no matter how you want to make it right.
Their behavior offends me, and it offends anybody who knows the difference between right and wrong
Big deal. You don't have a right not to be offended.
This is not a right you have.
Would y'all care to respond (See posts #9, 23, 30, & 55) because if I say anything more at this point, it will not be very nice and I'm not looking to get myself banned.
News modifies its advertising policies
At the end of the article, they announce they will no longer accept advertising for gentlemen's clubs "in keeping with the standards of publishing a newspaper intended to be enjoyed by family members of all ages". Do I see a double standard here?
I live in Ft. Worth but subscribe to the Dallas News because I think the Ft. Worth paper is "cheesy". I will be writing a letter to the Dallas News and probably cancel my subscription. I get most of my news online anyway.
Because I figured he'd like a good chuckle. He seems to be amused by you.
Later, we're going to come over to your house and stand out on the sidewalk and sodomize each other while your kids watch.
'Tard. I am not homosexual. I like girls. A LOT.
What I don't like is Fundies.
No wait, you caught me. I needed back up to deal with mental midgets who use hatred and sexual repression as a raison d'etre. Your superior logic skills overwhelmed me, and I had to have reinforcements... lol.
A reflection of their determination to push their agenda at any cost, even if it means slandering innocent people. Thanks for the article. It reminded me about the virtual news lockdown on the murder of 13 year old Jesse Dirkhising, which pretty much proves the premise of this article.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
