Here is an announcement that has yet to appear on the wedding page of The Boston Globe:
Joseph P. Barri and Randal A. Farrar were united on June 29 in Milton. The service, which was written by Mr. Farrar’s sister and included several musical selections, was attended by approximately 100 close friends and family.
Mr. Barri, a senior partner at the Boston law firm of Hale and Dorr, and Mr. Farrar, a partner in the Boston law firm of Bingham McCutchen, honeymooned in Ft. Lauderdale. The couple will reside in Milton.
No one disputes the facts of the announcement, but under Globe policy it would be rejected because Barri and Farrar are of the same sex.
Case closed? Not quite. The Globe is reviewing its policy with an eye toward possible change. Underline possible.
”Some may see this as an easy issue, but I see it as a difficult issue,” says Globe editor Martin Baron. He notes: ”Community standards are something we can’t ignore, but what a community’s standard is is hard to say.”
The Globe is not the only major paper grappling with the issue. The New York Times is also reviewing its policy, according to members of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalist Association, which met with the paper’s publisher recently. A Times spokesman last week declined comment.
But as large papers deliberate, many smaller and mid-size papers are – with little fanfare – moving ahead. From the Sun Journal of Lewiston, Maine, to the Foster’s Sunday Citizen in New Hampshire to, more locally, the Melrose Free Press and Somerville Journal, an increasing number of New England papers are publishing same-sex union announcements.
There has been no firestorm of protest. When the Melrose Free Press ran the ”Commitment Ceremony” announcement (with photo) of two long-time local women, says editor-in-chief Marlene Switzer, it generated no more response than a typical zoning board ruling. Nor should it, she says: ”We are simply making a record of the community.” In Somerville, a similar announcement (also with photo) produced only praise.
New England papers are not the only ones announcing same-sex unions. Just last week the Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer, which serves several Bible Belt counties and a military base, joined the ranks. Editor and publisher Charles Broadwell braced for the worst. By week’s end, 50 readers had contacted him and, although complaints outnumbered praise two-to-one, a feared surge of cancellations did not materialize.
More Massachusetts papers, including 16 more in the North Shore unit of the Community Newspaper Co., as well as CNC’s Cambridge Chronicle, stand ready to publish, if and when an announcement is submitted, say their editors-in-chief.
Why are smaller papers leading the way? Perhaps it’s because, for them, covering marriage – any marriage – is a more important local event. Perhaps bigger papers fear that changing course represents higher stakes, with louder protest.
For months, proponents of publishing same-sex unions have conducted a letter-writing campaign urging a change in Globe policy. Every few days another brightly colored postcard arrives urging the paper ”do the right and just thing.”
Proximity to Vermont – the only state where ”civil union” ceremonies are available – has put the spotlight on the Globe. More than 300 Massachusetts gay and lesbian couples have been united there. Many want their new union, although it is legally recognized only in Vermont, noted in their local newspapers.
”It really is important,” says Lawton Bourn III of Rowley, who sent announcement of his civil union to Stuart Wells IV to seven papers. He was ”very happy” when the five smaller papers – including the Cape Cod Times, Cape Codder, and the Daily News of Newburyport (whose new owner has since reversed policy) – ran the notice, and saddened the Globe and Herald did not.
One question for papers, including the Globe, is how to present the union of a same-sex couple. While the life commitment being celebrated is as heartfelt as any other, a same-sex union – whether the kind performed in Vermont, or by a minister or rabbi – is different from marriage, with no legal recognition. It’s not unreasonable for a paper to want to reflect that difference.
A sample of half a dozen New England papers shows that the favored solution is to include a small ”civil union” headline above the announcement, but in all or most other ways treat it like a wedding announcement. Nationally, there are other models: Some papers set aside a separate page for ”Unions” or ”Celebrations.” Some, like The Washington Post, run only paid wedding and union announcements, on separate days.
Will the Globe become the first large paper to publish same-sex unions on the weddings page free of charge? It’s hard to say. Baron, who says there is no timetable for a decision, readily acknowledges that ”newspapers have often been at the leading edge on civil rights issues.” But, he quickly notes, not everyone thinks that publication of same-sex union announcements qualifies as a rights issue.
In my view, the issue of gay partnership is indeed a civil rights matter; by extension, so is its cultural treatment – newspaper announcements included. As a matter of basic fairness, the respect for equal rights that the Globe expresses editorially should extend to the wedding page.
Joe Barri and Randal Farrar, the newly united lawyers from Milton, are hopeful the Globe’s decision-makers will agree. They’ll have their announcement and photo ready to go.
