Shortly after I arrived at this newspaper in 1990, a story appeared in our features section about a group called Homosexuals Anonymous, which claimed that sexuality is more a choice than a matter of genetics, and offered a 14-step program designed to “cure” homosexuality.
Not surprisingly, the story produced a visit from members of a Cleveland gay and lesbian advocacy group, who objected to the matter-of-fact presentation of homosexuality as something that could – or should – be “cured,” and to the absence in the story of local voices on the other side of the issue.
They bemoaned the lack of understanding that it displayed and pointed out that nobody from The Plain Dealer had ever been to one of their meetings in an official capacity. In response, my boss at the time thought it would be amusing to dispatch his new metro editor, who had a perhaps deserved reputation of being an unreconstructed right- winger, to attend their next meeting.
So off I went, and it was an eye-opening ex perience for all of us. The result was a better understanding on my part of the group’s complaints about our news coverage and a better understanding for the group on how to get its news and issues into the newspaper. The meeting led directly to a story about anti-gay violence on certain streets in Lakewood, which had previously gone unreported – and also, I think, to a general improvement in our coverage of issues important to the gay community.
Eighteen years later, I believe our coverage and insight into what is now called the LGBT community (for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) is far fairer and more enlightened. I cannot imagine, for example, a story as one-sided as the one described above appearing in The Plain Dealer today.
Two things have not changed, however:
We still get complaints that we do not cover issues important to the LGBT community sufficiently.
And many in the LGBT community are still seeking understanding and acceptance from the mainstream side of society.
These two issues coincided last weekend.
Cleveland, like most other large U.S. cities, is home to an annual pride parade. It is a significant event. For many who march in it, the parade is an emotional experience, symbolizing as it does a public coming out, a gathering of like-minded brothers and sisters and a refusal to hide who they are from the world. The parade is often followed by a festival that is aimed at least in part at education and political activism.
The 20th annual Cleveland Pride parade and festival occurred last Saturday. We covered it with a small photo and caption on Page 3 of the Sunday Metro section.
“I was appalled,” wrote Sarah Hastings of Lakewood in a letter to the editor and in a longer e-mail to me and others at the newspaper, decrying the lack of coverage of what she called “a politically and socially poignant and relevant event.”
I think she is right about that.
The editors who made the weekend coverage assignments looked at the Cleveland Pride celebration as simply another festival and made their decisions accordingly. So we sent a reporter to Akron to cover the LeBron James King for Kids bikeathon on Saturday and gave only a token amount of coverage to the pride parade.
No argument with the bikeathon coverage. It’s a big deal in Akron, and it drew thousands of participants and onlookers. But that shouldn’t mean we don’t cover the parade.
With no offense to the good people of Mentor, the Cleveland Pride parade and festival is not akin to the annual “It’s Better in Mentor” festival -even though the latter event might draw more customers to the cotton candy stands. It is, as Hastings suggests, a political event that is a high point of the year for a significant number of our readers, and one that should be treated seriously by their newspaper.
So what was missing was not a routine festival story but a story acknowledging the annual celebration and using that opportunity to offer some perspective about what it means to be gay in Cleveland.
In her letter, Hastings offered three reasons that the newspaper should cover the organized activities of the Cleveland LGBT community: “Whether it is to monitor a movement you find abhorrent, to chart the progress of a group you support, or simply to maintain a fully informed public.”
From our perspective, there really is only one: to inform our readers, whether gay or straight.
Coverage decisions should never be based on any editor’s personal sense of support or abhorrence, and they were not here.
I think the annual parade is significant to enough people that it deserves a significant piece of the Metro section. Our metro editors reached a different conclusion – sincerely, but I think wrongly.
We do a good job of covering many issues that are important to the LGBT community. Earlier this month, a large piece of Page One was devoted to an examination of what the California ruling legalizing gay marriage might mean to Ohioans on both sides of the issue.
But we’re not perfect, as our lack of awareness last week showed. Perhaps it’s time for some editors to go to a few more meetings.
