Editors vow to run same-sex marriage notices if submitted

With same-sex marriage becoming legal in Massachusetts on Monday, newspapers throughout the state are preparing to usher in a new era by publishing same-sex wedding and engagement announcements on their pages. What isn't clear, however, is how many newly married gay and lesbian couples will choose the traditional method of using their local paper to trumpet the news.

Less than two years after The New York Times set a crucial precedent by announcing its willingness to publicize same-sex unions and commitment ceremonies, the sands have shifted dramatically. Same-sex marriage is about to be legally sanctioned, and editors around the state say they have no qualms about publicizing those events. A Globe survey of 15 Massachusetts dailies -- including the two largest, The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald -- found that they plan to treat same-sex marriage announcements the same as heterosexual wedding news.

Only one paper that responded to the Globe inquiry -- the Taunton Daily Gazette -- said it had not formally decided whether to publish the announcements. "I haven't even thought about that yet," said the managing editor, Dave Brown, while acknowledging that the paper would probably accept them.

Elsewhere, the views are clearer.

"I'm sure some readers will find it a little uncomfortable, but in a week it's going to be legal, and I can't find any reason to discriminate," said Cliff Schechtman, editor of the Cape Cod Times. "We had our editorial board meeting, and we didn't even blink," said Allan Kort, executive editor of The Daily Item in Lynn.

"They're equal under the law, they'll be treated equally under the law," said Suzanne Dion, lifestyle editor at The Sun in Lowell.

Joan Garry, executive director of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which has spent the past several years encouraging papers to publish news of gay and lesbian commitments and unions, said that with same-sex marriage about to become legal, "for newspapers across the state, there's no decision to make. Come May 17, in Massachusetts, a marriage is a marriage is a marriage."

But even if newspapers are onboard, there's no guarantee they'll get a significant number of submissions from gay and lesbian couples. According to GLAAD, 245 papers across the country have indicated a willingness to publicize gay unions and commitments. Yet in many cases, there has not been a large influx of same-sex announcements, and observers have noted that members of the gay and lesbian community are simply not used to sending out news of their relationships. Editors at more than half the Massachusetts dailies surveyed said they could not recall ever having received a same-sex union announcement.

"We have had a policy for several years of accepting them, and no one has taken us up on it," said Ken Johnson, city editor of The Patriot Ledger in Quincy.

The Globe, which began publishing announcements of civil unions and commitment ceremonies in October 2002, has run 21 such items since then. The Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton has been accepting such announcements since 1991, and editor James Foudy said the traffic has been "light." Still, he predicted that marriage and engagement news would pick up. "Certainly, the community and the mood has changed dramatically," he said.

Not everyone is convinced that new rights will quickly translate into a flood of same-sex wedding news on the social pages -- including editors at two of Boston's gay and lesbian newspapers, Bay Windows and In Newsweekly.

"We're honestly not sure what to expect," said Bay Windows editor in chief Andrew Rapp.

"Because same-sex couples are not used to getting married . . . the whole idea of wedding announcements is a whole new world for a lot of people," said Fred Kuhr, editor of In Newsweekly.

As a result, he added, certain formalities such as sending an announcement to a newspaper could be "a low priority that just gets lost in the shuffle."

But GLAAD's Garry said her organization plans on persuading same-sex couples to make it a high priority. "One of our efforts will be to encourage people to submit," she said. "The power to share these stories is big. We have to remind people who are getting married that the door is open."