Even the gays claim the New York Time is the model liberal paper. From below the following: 'You are The New York Times. You are the best newspaper in the world. You are gushingly gay-friendly. We hold you to a higher standard than the Daily Oklahoman.'
OPINION
August 03, 2001
Veteran gay journalist Rex Wockner dissects gay culture, politics and entertainment -- and calls it as he sees it -- every other Friday in the Wockner Wire.
Gay-friendly homophobia
You gotta love that the most gay-friendly daily newspaper in America -- The New York Times -- won't accept Vermont civil-union announcements in its Weddings section.
"We have given careful thought to the question, especially in the light of our editorial page's long and unequivocal support of same-sex unions and the Vermont measure in particular," says Times News Editor William Borders. "Nevertheless the editors have concluded that the civil unions in Vermont fall short of equivalency to marriage in significant respects, and our wedding pages are still confined to marriages."
This is the same New York Times that is so gay -- its staff and its articles -- that New York City hardly needs a gay newspaper.
"We don't feel able to open those pages to civil unions in part because that would amount to taking an editorial position in the news columns on an issue that still very much divides society," Borders told the New York Observer.
Where to begin? First, the Vermont civil-unions law gives unioned couples every right of marriage that Vermont can give them. The only marriage rights unioned Vermonters lack are those bestowed by the federal government.
Second, reporting that John Smith and Joe Doe were married in an official civil-union ceremony in Vermont, where such unions are legal and common, does not amount to taking an "editorial position" in the news pages. It amounts to reporting the news in the news pages.
Your newspaper may be liberal, gay-friendly and journalistically excellent, Mr. Borders, but you, unfortunately, seem to be a homophobe. Wake up. Face facts. Get a grip. Fix the policy.
You are The New York Times. You are the best newspaper in the world. You are gushingly gay-friendly. We hold you to a higher standard than the Daily Oklahoman.
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