It was a moment greeted with celebration and joy for many when they glanced at their issue of last week’s Jewish Standard, a popular Jewish publication in New Jersey. For the first time, the publication chose to print an announcement of a same-sex couple’s intent to marry. Love, commitment, and joy. What could go wrong?
Apparently a group of anti-gay readers didn’t quite enjoy seeing the joyful image of a same-sex couple in their paper. So instead of moving forward with the signs of the times, The Jewish Standard is back-tracking on their decision to publish same-sex wedding announcements. Their readership isn’t ready, the Standard argues. And then they go on to apologize for the hurt they may have caused readers offended by seeing the same-sex couple’s announcement.
Sorry, the hurt that a few anti-gay readers felt? How about the pain of LGBT people and their family members who are watching The Jewish Standard backtrack on equality?
“We set off a firestorm last week by publishing a same-sex couple’s announcement of their intent to marry. Given the tenor of the times, we did not expect the volume of comments we have received, many of them against our decision to run the announcement, but many supportive as well,” The Jewish Standard said in an announcement printed yesterday. “A group of rabbis has reached out to us and conveyed the deep sensitivities within the traditional/Orthodox community to this issue. Our subsequent discussions with representatives from that community have made us aware that publication of the announcement caused pain and consternation, and we apologize for any pain we may have caused.”
The Jewish Standard then goes on to say that they won’t publish same-sex wedding announcements in the future.
There you have it. Same-sex wedding announcements cause pain and consternation, and The Jewish Standard is sorry for ever allowing a same-sex couple to grace its pages.
Maybe it’s time to send The Jewish Standard a little message, letting them know that their decision to eliminate same-sex wedding announcements from their paper is bad for business, and bad for the principles of love and commitment that lie at the core of their theology.
It always seemed an unlikely pairing. Ted Olson, the conservative lawyer who defended President George W. Bush to decide the 2000 presidential election, now championing marriage equality in California’s Proposition 8 case, paired with David Boies, his opponent in Bush v. Gore. But Olson has another unlikely partner — his wife, Lady Booth Olson, also a lifelong Democrat.