Union Fascist is an anti-gay ragWater wet, fire hot.
Just what else would you expect. The Concord Monitor is doing quite well in this state because it’s very different from the UF.

paul hodesdeserves some email thanking him for standing up for gay citizens.  the advertisers for the paper also need to be contacted to withhold some advertising to financially hurt this ‘newspaper’.  who is the biggest advertiser?

This just in…The pope is catholic. Actually, I like the “water wet, fire hot” comment above better.:)
I almost wonder why the happy couple would even want to publish the announcement in this fish-wrap publication. I’m old enough to remember how William Loeb treated Edmund Muskie and his wife.

Did you really expect something different?They are following in the footsteps of Nackey Loeb.
This from a newspaper that labeled the gender inclusive anti-discrimination bill the bathroom bill.

Welcome to Pam’s House Blend!When you signed up for your account, TheProfessor, you agreed to the PHB Terms of Service which state in part

8. You may not post or transmit any message which is harmful, threatening, abusive, hateful, or defamatory (defamatory anti-lesbian, anti-gay, anti-bisexual, and anti-transgender language will include, but not be limited to, the language identified as defamatory within the current online version of the GLAAD Media Reference Guide). Excessive use of profanity is discouraged, epithets directed at community members are grounds for suspension or deactivation (banning) at any time.
Moderator Action: A single public warning in the comment thread is considered fair notice prior to a suspension or ban. The offending comment(s) may also be left intact as proof of the violation, or deleted at the moderator’s discretion.

Consider this your single public warning that if you continue to defame LGBT people, you will be banned from Pam’s House Blend without further notice.  I am letting the comment to which I am responding stand because I think it is so laughably ineffectual that I think Blenders will get a kick out of it.
Good day to you,
Lurleen
PHB Barista

I think they wanted to publish there becauseone of the grooms grew up in Manchester, where the newspaper is based.  So this is his old hometown newspaper and was a logical way to inform old friends and classmates of his wedding plans.

Someone with DKos account please …Could you tell this guy to read the whole diary, not just the headline.
And there’s another diary.

You really love your logical fallacies.

“Guns Force Integration”The Union Leader’s famous headline when when President Eisenhower had the showdown about racial equality in education in Arkansas
Needles to say, the Union Leader was anti-desegregation
A related story was entitled “The Iron Fist In ‘Free’ America”
Before WWII, the Union Leader was anti-Semetic, pro-Fr Coughlin, Pro-Lindbergh and supportive of his claim that Jews and the British controlled FDR, and of the two, the Jews were more dangerous.
So, the Union Deceiver(not my name for it, someone coined it in the 1930′s) is more than merely anti-gay
It is pro-fascist, anti-semetic, racially bigoted and has the stench of long-standing treason about it.

You’re not with Obama’s DOJ are you?That post repeated the talking-points Obama’s Department of Justice used in a recent court case about DOMA.
I notice you don’t include “anti-pedophile” – so can assume you belong to one of the mainstream christianist groups whose leaders often practice that.

And that judge in LA that wouldn’t performinterracial marriages wasn’t racist. He has black friends that use his bathroom.

they also didn’t mention “anti-adultery”another problem rampant among the religious radical right.

To clarify:In this case, “LA” is the state abbreviation of Louisiana, NOT Los Angeles.
[Just keepin' you honest, RainbowPhoenix! ]

UL has always been anti-LGBTBack in the day I recall the Union Leader used to bully the local community by posting photos of patrons of the few gay clubs/bars.  I remember going to one bar back in the 80s and it had this imposing steel front door with a tiny little window and you had to know someone and become a member to get in.  It’s all very, very different now.  The Union Leader can always be counted on to bring the homophobia, but they’ve actually toned it down a bit over the years!  There are many reputable news sources in NH, not in my wildest dreams would I support the UL.

The Union Misleader has been bad for ages

The Manchester Union Leader, practitioner of a style of knife-and-kill journalism that went out of fashion half a century ago in the rest of the country, is the primary daily paper of 40 percent of New Hampshire’s population… ”
-Theodore Harold White, The Making of the President, 1972

I guess there aren’tpublic accommodation laws in NH and obviously no state anti discrimination law that covers sexual orientation or gender identity.  

Professor?Professor of what? I gather professor of right wing “values” which include bigotry and prejudice against anyone who thinks differently than you.  Your truths are not indelibly written anywhere, and, in fact, in the middle ages gay marriages were performed by the church.  All of the organizations you refer to are nothing more than right wing groups full of bigots.  Your culture of black and white thinking is anti-intellectual and goes against the God who made us each to be His/Her investigator of his Creation.

nhulim a vt boi, this rag and its opinions are soooo outdated,NONE of us in VT pay attention to  Union leaders LUNACY,,, mr Mc Quaid is very knowledgeble,,,for a guy with a 3RD GRADE EDU…lool.what an ignorant nutcase

American Vision has at best dubious connections with truthand some intellectually slick and glossy polemics that border upon if not actually are anti-semetic and disguisedly anti-Catholic, probably overtly Domionist were I to waste irretreviable moments of my life by reading any more of it
As for the FRC; they have been faking data for so long that they no longer even raise an eyebrow

Proper punctuation helps.Just some friendly advice.

WowSomebody really likes stepping in it, eh?

Actually, there are some good things that can come from this displayof arrogant anti-gay nonsense from this poor excuse for a “news”paper. For one thing, locals need to point out that (as recently as 2005), the Union-Leader published wedding announcements as a public service, and only charged if the public wanted a picture. At that time (perhaps they have published different rules this year) there were no exceptions listed to the public service offerings.
Moreover, the publisher’s explanation is extremely poor and his dependence on a constitutional right to discriminate in terms of a public service is questionable. However, locals should adamantly point out that the Union-Leader’s inability to print a simple wedding announcement, which, along with obituaries and court/police notes are about the most mundane reporting of day-to-day life in a community, should call into question their ability to accurately report on other news items in the community. One must remember – these notices are not on the editorial page – they are regarded as news events specifically published in the knowledge that those closest to the couple – and family – will keep these. If the Union-Leader is reluctant to report these events because of the gender of the spouses, then yes, (despite the publisher’s claim) the newspaper is anti-gay.
Another thing – someone should ask the publisher if this “policy” will also be reflected in obituaries. Obits are either filled out at the funeral home by next-of-kin or directly sent in to most newspapers. Since same-sex marriage is legal in New Hampshire, and a surviving partner would handle the paperwork, is the newspaper (which apparently can’t print the marriage of a same-sex couple) prepared to inaccurately report the details of an obituary where one member of a same-sex marriage is deceased? This would add strength to the argument that the newspaper’s own credibility in reporting ANYTHING should be called to task – because if a reporter can’t handle a public service announcement, or an obituary, the paper sure can’t be trusted to report on any more immediate important news to the entire community.
That being said, one wonders what the newspaper would say if a straight male crossdresser decided to send a wedding announcement in with a picture of himself and the bride dressed in lovely white wedding gowns. It would, according to the newspapers definition, constitute a wedding – and, in that case, the couple would be PAYING the newspaper for printing a picture. How much do you want to bet that publisher would refuse THAT announcement as well, particularly if their names might be more gender nuetral? It would be quite an interesting experiment, because the newspaper would have to suddenly take the leap from claiming one thing as a reason for refusing to publish – to another thing – meaning fabric.
This newspaper can easily be made to look foolish. It isn’t simply about their First Amendment rights – they can print what they want. However, they can’t go against their own published policies, and those would be the guidelines for the wedding announcement pages. That creates another problem.
And one more thing someone must point out – if the publisher doesn’t “agree” with same-sex marriage, is he saying the company has no gay employees, and if they do have some, they aren’t welcome to put pictures of their spouse or of their wedding on their desk, just like everyone else in the office?
Lurleen – don’t you let that newspaper get away with such a pitiful, unethical excuse for a statement!

Facts to ponder

You can think or feel you were born a horse if you want, or a member of a special new “orientation” (whatever that means), but that doesn’t make it so.

Fair enough. You’d have to show that there was some anatomical evidence – being quadrupedal for example.
Talking about evidence….
Sexual Hormones and the Brain: An Essential Alliance for Sexual Identity and Sexual Orientation Garcia-Falgueras A, Swaab DF Endocr Dev. 2010;17:22-35

The fetal brain develops during the intrauterine period in the male direction through a direct action of testosterone on the developing nerve cells, or in the female direction through the absence of this hormone surge. In this way, our gender identity (the conviction of belonging to the male or female gender) and sexual orientation are programmed or organized into our brain structures when we are still in the womb. However, since sexual differentiation of the genitals takes place in the first two months of pregnancy and sexual differentiation of the brain starts in the second half of pregnancy, these two processes can be influenced independently, which may result in extreme cases in trans-sexuality. This also means that in the event of ambiguous sex at birth, the degree of masculinization of the genitals may not reflect the degree of masculinization of the brain. There is no indication that social environment after birth has an effect on gender identity or sexual orientation.

One of the many papers providing evidence for those conclusions:
Male-to-female transsexuals have female neuron numbers in a limbic nucleus. Kruiver et al J Clin Endocrinol Metab (2000) 85:2034-2041

Regardless of sexual orientation, men had almost twice as many somatostatin neurons as women (P < 0.006). The number of neurons in the BSTc of male-to-female transsexuals was similar to that of the females (P = 0.83). In contrast, the neuron number of a female-to-male transsexual was found to be in the male range. Hormone treatment or sex hormone level variations in adulthood did not seem to have influenced BSTc neuron numbers. The present findings of somatostatin neuronal sex differences in the BSTc and its sex reversal in the transsexual brain clearly support the paradigm that in transsexuals sexual differentiation of the brain and genitals may go into opposite directions and point to a neurobiological basis of gender identity disorder.

The following paper is useful in understanding the mechanism of how a sexually-differentiated brain leads to gender identity crystallisation:
Biased-Interaction Theory of Psychosexual Development: “How Does One Know if One is Male or Female?”
by M.Diamond, Sex Roles (2006) 55:589-600

A theory of gender development is presented that incorporates early biological factors that organize predispositions in temperament and attitudes. With activation of these factors a person interacts in society and comes to identify as male or female. The predispositions establish preferences and aversions the growing child compares with those of others. All individuals compare themselves with others deciding who they are like (same) and with whom are they different. These experiences and interpretations can then be said to determine how one comes to identify as male or female, man or woman. In retrospect, one can say the person has a gendered brain since it is the brain that structures the individual’s basic personality; first with inherent tendencies then with interactions coming from experience.

Professor – before making allegations, perhaps you should do some research first. No, the KJV is not a good Science Textbook on Cosmology, and the Sun does not orbit the Earth, even if the FRC says so.
Look, there’s plenty of data freely available in Libraries and on the Internet, both about the falsification of Geocentricism, and on the biological bases of both gender identity and sexual orientation.
May I recommend the presentations at last year’s American Psychiatric Association seminar S10:
S10. The Neurobiological Evidence for Transgenderism
1. Brain Gender Identity Prof. Sidney W. Ecker, M.D.
2. Transsexuality as an Intersex Condition Prof Milton Diamond, Ph.D.

The law usually applies to behavior, not affiliations or thought and feelings.

… which is why Religion is not a protected class then? Or national origin?
I’d be fascinated to see what justification you adduce for your monicker, “TheProfessor”. I’m just an untenured lecturer and PhD student myself. Oh, and a Rocket Scientist – not that gives my opinions on any issue but spaceflight avionics more weight.

Hey, now, what’ve you got against 3rd Graders?Most of the ones I’ve known would spot the problems w/ this rag and its supporters from a mile away…

“Forced” only occuredbecause the South was resisting inregration with violence
As for the inborn and immutable nature of sexual orientation, I am afraid that science has found it to be so and the two professional bodies governing such things have determined that the positions that I have just stated are scientific and supportable.

Done.

excellent round-up, kevinbgoode!thank you for working through the points like this.  this is why i love this blog – its like a brainstorming session.

Thanks.And as at least the diary’s headline indicates that it is a proper name, he has nothing to complain.

did you mean anti-emetic or anti-Semitic?’cause when people are hateful toward Jewry I feel like puking.

Bad typing and spellingwhen febrile, sis; recovering from pneumonia…my copy of Agora arrived, btw

I have to wonder about that KarenIt’s really no different than a business refusing to serve African Americans, or a hotel refusing to rent a room to Jews.  If the couple is willing to pay to have the ad placed, the newspaper would certainly be obligated to publish it, as this is a legal marriage in NH.
What’s next for them?  No announcements of interracial marriages, or perhaps no announcements of marriages of people who attend the “wrong” church?

Best of health to you, dear heart!And yeah, Agora is overwhelmingly brilliant, powerful, and moving.
But of course I’d say that…