27 people canceled their subscriptions to the Washington Post when the paper ran this picture on its front page with a story about same-sex marriages licenses being issued in DC. The Post ombudsman describes the complaints he's received, which include the usual homophobic rants and the more measured "This disturbs me and it should be buried" reactions. And, as happens EVERY SINGLE TIME a homosexual couple is shown doing something so perfectly pedestrian that it would be completely unremarkable if its subjects were straight, there was this: "I would appreciate it if your cover pictures would not be so disturbing where my kids can see it easily on the kitchen table... please don't shove this 'Gay' business in our face." I suppose we should applaud the complainant for eschewing the more commonplace "ram it down our throats," but can't they find a new way to proclaim their displeasure? I am sick and tired of having these ignorant expressions of disgust jammed up my ass.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
36
This is a weird case where reading the comments actually leaves you with a better impression of humanity than the article itself. Of course, subscribing to the WaPo because of a single photo is almost as silly as canceling over it, but to the publisher, "a bunch of retirees and moms cancelled; a bunch of recent college grads subscribed" can't be seen as anything but good news.
I'm trying to write a clever riposte about you and PDA and @girlfriend, but I'm hungover. I get to mail it in once in a while too.
Haha, 27 people? How will WaPo support itself now!? Undoubtedly the death knell for print.
Can you blame them for being offended? I mean... a red tie with a purple shirt?
I am so glad that someone gayer than me was available to say that.
Thank you, HG! Exactly what I was thinking.
Fourthed. (This 'Gay' business!)
Interesting, but I wish you hadn't included that picture.
Husbands and husbands.
is that Sean Penn?
Ever have someone call your husband your 'friend' because there are kids around, and you know, saying partner even would be 'too much'? I wish they could watch this video.
My mom used to say my 'friend.' I just had to condition her by constantly correcting her with 'boyfriend.'
It's just a matter of training above a certain age, but they can learn.
Ooooh.....we could use pavlov..."boyfriend" --> cookie, "boyfriend" --> cookie, "boyfriend" --> cookie, repeat till trained! (or fat)
@ProfessorBen: in theory, yes; though with my mother you would replace 'cookie' with 'vodka soda.'
Repeat until soused -- fun for everybody!
Not that it's quite the same, but my mother always referred to my boyfriends as 'my daughter's friend' or worse, 'special friend.' My husband and I dated for 5 years before marrying, and I guess she thought we were just best buds that whole time.
@Bittersweet--I had to get married for clerical reasons, and my conservative mother insisted on calling him my husband to friends and family to spite me!
Now I'm intrigued, garge - what are 'clerical reasons'? Green card? Health insurance? Need for new last name?
my mom has done this to my friends! she thinks it's helpfully unspecific!
@Bittersweet--it was a slip-though-the-cracks financial aid issue for college. Related: if anyone needs divorce procedural advice in Massachusetts and has no assets or -contest, I'm your man!
If I actually read the Washington Post, I might be tempted to ask them to run a photo of hotter guys wearing less clothing next time.
baby steps.
Change the caption to read "Testosterone-charged football players congratulate each other on a successful play." Problem solved.
Bloodied children crying in grief agony after Haitian Earthquake = fine for kids to see. War battleground scenes (probably not from these wars, since the papers like to pretend they don't exist, but from other wars, certainly)=A-ok. Two guys who like each other pecking innocently = Unsafe for young eyes.
Got it!
If Mom would switch to online, she could install gay blocker.
The truth is, you're not sick and tired of that at all, are you?
Apparently after the anti-segregation laws, people wrote the WaPo to complain about inter-racial couples kissing on the front page. And here we are so many years later, the same, but different. Proving that people are, in fact, stupid as a bag of hammers.
It really is outrageous that, in this day & age, twenty-seven people still had Post subscriptions.
Rest assured that dealing with this problem is apparently somewhere on The Gay Agenda.
A story today says that a guest of the Hyatt there canceled a reservation because of their online gay wedding promo, so the hotel moved it off the front page. So, phew.
The thing that makes that photo so offensive is that clearly NEITHER OF THOSE GUYS IS GAY.
Jeez some people. Perfectly normal 100% heterosexual greeting...
http://tinyurl.com/yb726eq
I don't know which is worse: the painfully frat-tastic bromosexual on the stairs, or the revelation that the ninth Doctor Who was a scientologist.
What about "don't jizz in my eyes"?
Please stop dipping this 'Gay' business in my mouth.
Well someone is going to be wriggling it around in excrement tonight!