Subscribe to Breaking News
Loading ...Wash Post subscribers in uproar over pic of men kissing
The Washington Post’s ombudsman, Andrew Alexander, reported today that an unusual number of readers have complained and canceled subscriptions over the publishing of a photo of two men kissing on the front page.
The photo, below, shows two men in a light kiss, celebrating the day that DC started accepting applications for marriage licenses for gay couples.
Many of the readers used anti-gay slurs, Andrews said. Twenty-seven subscribers canceled. One emailed one of the reporters who worked on the story to say: “That kind of stuff makes normal people want to throw up. People have kids who are being exposed to this crap. I will be glad when your rag goes out of business. Real men marry women.”
But Andrews said:
Did the Post go too far? Of course not. The photo deserved to be in newspaper and on its Web site, and it warranted front-page display.
News photos capture reality. And the prominent display reflects the historic significance of what was occurring. The recent D.C. Council decision to approve same-sex marriage was the culmination of a decades-long gay rights fight for equality. Same-sex marriage is now legal in the District. The photo of [Jeremy] Ames and [Taka] Ariga kissing simply showed joy that would be exhibited by any couple planning to wed – especially a couple who previously had been denied the legal right to marry.
There was a time, after court-ordered integration, when readers complained about front-page photos of blacks mixing with whites. Today, photo images of same-sex couples capture the same reality of societal change.
Kudos to Andrews and the Post.
I am not at all surprised that the Post published this sort of picture and I am also not at all surprised about the reaction of a few very vocal bigots (probably from Virginia). I need to see if I can get an on-line subscription.
I think the real story here is that somehow Right-Wing nut jobs got a subscription to the Post by mistake. Well, that screw up has been corrected. These people can now return to their box, with their head planted firmly back in the sand.
Since when do you worry about kids seeing a couple kiss? You show Straight couples kissing….well now it is ALL couples kissing. It’s not like they were having full frontal sex on the front page!(Which would be fine with me if it was in a serious news-worthy story, beyond titillation)…this is about “reality” and it is a new legal right so it is FRONT PAGE, “newsworthy”…bet the whinners aren’t as selective about what their kids see on TV or the NET…and by the way “REAL MEN” can handle “FACTS” and “REALITY”…
I ploughed through the hundreds of comments on the Post’s website. The vast majority were supportive. Those who weren’t were from Virginia and the Deep South.
Surprise!
PS – the majority of the “anti” comments seemed to lack a command of basic grammar and spelling. Also not a surprise.
PPS – a number of readers also complained about another picture of two “ugly, fat, black lesbians” kissing.
Now, we all know, if it had been two attractive white lesbians, the trailer-park-trash set would have been reaching for the Astroglide ™.
I hope this level of tolerance spreads like the plague within all forms of the media. I hope that Fox News becomes the only haven these close-minded religious nuts can flee to whenever they feel threatened by the nasty gay people.
Christian white trash is as Christian white trash does!
27????? Gee – I’ll bet if we target Washington area gays and lesbians, we can cover those ‘lost’ subscribers in less than 24 hours!
27 people dropped their subscriptions? Doesn’t really sound like too many were in an uproar over this
Some people really get their knickers in a twist over absolutely nothing. Seems to me that it is supposedly grown adults who are making more of a fuss over this than children ever would. It makes you wonder who is the adult here and I would have to say the children are because they would be so happy to see a couple showing their loving affection!
The Washington Post has had front page pictures of war casualties, rape victims, earthquake victims, Katrina flood victims, crime victims……blood and gore and destruction…….and THIS is what drives 27 people over the edge?
What a truly pathetic group they must constitute. Let us hope they have no children to damage or scar.
I hope gays in D.C. who are not subscribers subscribe and let the Washington Post know that their “normalization” photo of two men kissing is both appropriate and appreciated!
I live in VA near DC and could get a dead tree subscription delivered to my house, but I don’t read dead tree newspapers any more and I don’t want to deal with recycling the paper. The Post doesn’t appear to have an on-line subscription option, just a free registration.
Does anybody have an idea what sort of non-profit organization might want a gift subscription to the Post?
Only 27 canceled their subscriptions so it’s not really an uproar, no? Besides, most people visiting WP’s website regularly are fairly supportive of same-sex marriage, though the number of fair-minded folks can’t hold a candle to that of NYT.