Waytogo !!
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
A ping for the Catholic Caucus. Perhaps a letters to the editor campaign would be in order?Thanks. Excellent idea !
I'm ashamed of The Dallas Moanin' News !!
They MADE You be gay? Why that's terrible. Really.
but at the point where fag rights start restricting our rights,
Define SPECIFICALLY which rights you have had restricted. (You can't)
especially when the exercise of their so-called rights goes against the laws of God and nature
I'm glad your Deity has deigned to post at Free Republic. I have so many questions.
Just because your religion doesn't approve doesn't give you the right to murder or imprison gays.
The women wore black tie, but did the men wear white coats?
Sad to say but in some cases their "pets" are adopted children!
Dear Ms. McKenzie,
10 years ago, the idea of the DMN recognizing gay marriages would have been unthinkable. Now the DMN is clamoring to be just like the New York Times -- especially in their biased reporting of the news. The DMN should be more careful of who it tries to emulate. You've basically chosen the Eddie Haskell of reporting as your role model.
Waytogo !!
Who is that PMaples@dallasnews.com you CC'd there, btw ?? Just curious.
One doesn't have to be a Christian to recognize perversion. There is right and wrong and trying to pretend there isn't doesn't change it. Trying to make a wrong right by making a behavior widely accepted doesn't make it any less wrong either. Their behavior offends me, and it offends anybody who knows the difference between right and wrong. Considering the liberals' feigned objections to anybody having to be offended, they sure do shove this most offensive of behaviors on everybody else. As human beings, they should be treated the same as anybody else, but when they put themselves out there as queers first and human beings second then they shouldn't be surprised when people react negatively.
She was the editor for a story back in 1999 for which I was one of the featured people. Come to think of it, the story appeared on July 6th (today is my mom's birthday, so I remember these kinds of anniversaries).
Ah, good ! Maybe it make an impact then, hopefully !Happy birthday to Mom !
I remember that too. The Times Herald was the LIB paper, the DMN was Conservative. I guess when the TH folded, the DMN sucked up the LIBS from the TH.Do I understand this to say that heterosexual couples must pay for engagement/wedding announcements, but gay couples get free space?
At first, when I read it, I thought that ALL 2 inch engagement/wedding announcements were free. It's really a bit vague now that I read it again. Could go either way, kinda like The Dallas Morning News, lol !:
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.
Seldom does a photo leave the viewer feeling as unclean as the one you posted.
Eww.. Geez, my skin is crawling.
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