New Hampshire's Largest Newspaper, Union Leader Of Manchester, Won't Print Gay Marriage Notices

CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire's largest newspaper is defending its decision to refuse to publish marriage notices for gay couples.

New Hampshire is one of five states to have legalized gay marriage. Two men getting married in Portsmouth on Saturday wanted to publish a marriage notice in the Union Leader of Manchester but were refused.

The newspaper says it has a constitutional right to choose what to print and opposes the new law. Publisher Joe McQuaid says the paper isn't anti-gay but believes marriage is between a man and a woman.

Democratic Senate candidate Paul Hodes (HOHDZ') called on the paper to change its policy and respect the state law. He challenged Republican opponent Kelly Ayotte (AY'-aht) to denounce its decision.

An Ayotte spokesman says government officials have no business telling a free press what to do.

Comments

[jfmckenna]

02:24 PM on 10/28/2010

Gender complementarity in child-rearing isn't a mere "hang-up" but a standard that we ignore at our peril. Some people talk about love as though having it from anybody is all children need. The nonsense of that should be obvious to anyone who has had a father and mother, who has been a father or mother, or who has observed fathers and mothers. Sure, you can find exceptions, such as good people who have grown up without a father, for instance. In general, the ubiquity of that has been catastrophic. Boys without the restraining influence and role modeling of fathers are FAR less likely to curb their violent impulses and girls are more likely to become promiscuous. The idea that gender is mere anatomy is one that should be retired pronto.

[PrideNH]

05:59 PM on 10/28/2010

I suppose this off-topic discussion would be easier to continue if the poster would respond to the questions already submitted below in response to their baseless opinions being thrown about?

What this article is about is equality. Clearly, based on your comments, you continue to ignore the issue at hand, have stereotyped all forms of family, and have still brought no substantiating data.

Let's try to keep on topic and address the issue at hand.

[jfmckenna]

08:42 PM on 10/31/2010

Marriage has never been about equality. It's has ALWAYS been about giving preferential treatment to a man and a women willing to provide stability to potential new members of society and thereby to society itself, making the participants worthy of economic and social support.

[pfunky]

12:16 PM on 10/27/2010

I found a petition started from Change.org. to protest this bigoted, homophobic policy:

http://www.change.org/petitions/view/tell_new_hampshires_union_leader_to_publish_same-sex_wedding_announcements

If you agree, sign it, and e-mail it to your friends, as I have.

[PrideNH]

02:02 PM on 10/27/2010

Thanks for the link, pfunky.

I also would like to call attention to a boycott of all advertisers of the UL. A list is just below, but there are more. Write to the advertisers also and let them know how you feel about them supporting this organization!

[pfunky]

02:11 PM on 10/27/2010

I saw it and I am proud to be your first fan!

[Wisco-libertarian]

09:57 AM on 10/27/2010

Hodes should respect the right of the newspaper not to print what it doesn't want to.

[PrideNH]

11:51 PM on 10/24/2010

I have read many comments here about a boycott. A boycott of the UL is not ultimately going to work. What WILL work is to boycott their advertisers. Newspapers need advertisers. Without them they cannot afford to publish.

I have identified several companies advertising on the UL's website tonight:

Bonneville and Son
http://www.bonnevilleson.net/contact-form.htm

Concord Lincoln Mercury
http://www.concordlincolnmercury.com/displayform.asp?id=4&keywords=contact

Corriveau-Routhier
http://www.candrtile.com/contactus.asp

Public Service of New Hampshire
http://www.psnh.com/Contact-Us.aspx

BooCoo Auctions
https://www.boocoo.com/auction/contact.asp

Southern New Hampshire University
Gail Dexter
[e-mail]
Director of Development
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Northeast Credit Union
[e-mail]
603-436-1847
1-888-436-1847

I request everyone who abhors this rag to write to their advertisers and demand they stop advertising with them:

My letter to each tonight:

I am sorry to inform (you), but a state wide boycott of all advertisers on the Union Leader websites or in any publication they print has begun. We cannot and will not tolerate ignorance and bigotry...this is in light of the publishers refusal to print a gay marriage announcement. As long as you or any entity you are associated with continues to support this organization through ads, the whole of the gay community is not going to do business with you.

[PrideNH]

01:35 AM on 10/25/2010

Ad the following advertisers to the list:

CB Richard Ellis
http://www.cbre.com/EN/AboutUs/Pages/ContactUs.aspx

Bentley Commons of Bedford
http://www.kapdev.com/kaplan_senior_care_contactus

Plymouth State University
http://www.plymouth.edu/main/contact.html

Naults
[e-mail]

Monster.Com
http://my.monster.com/ContactUs.aspx

Also, Mr. Quaid, the publisher of the UL, can be reached at:
[e-mail]

[PrideNH]

01:28 PM on 10/25/2010

More Union Leader advertisers:

Yahoo
[e-mail]

Google
[e-mail]

1800Mattress
[e-mail]

[PrideNH]

08:00 AM on 10/27/2010

Additional Advertisers:

Comcast
[e-mail]

Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare
[e-mail]

Ford Motor Co.
[e-mail]

Great North Propery Management
http://www.greatnorth.net/pages/contact-us

Champlain College
http://www.champlain.edu/Contacts.html

cafepress.com
[e-mail]

transunion
[e-mail]

MyLife
[e-mail]

Nh365.org (check whois record = UL website)
(Special note: Please note specific information about this Union Leader affiliated organization. All LGBT members are strongly urged to pull any and all support from this organization)

NH365.ORG
100 William Loeb Drive
Manchester, NH 03109

Phone [phone]
Fax:[phone]

Carl Perreault
Director, Ext. 13
[e-mail]

Katie McQuaid
Director Sales & Marketing, Ext. 12
[e-mail]

Sarah Neveu
Operations Manager, Ext. 11
[e-mail]

Lisa Martineau
Events Moderator, Ext. 14
[e-mail]

Verizon
[e-mail]

[wforvendetta]

11:13 PM on 10/24/2010

With newspaper ad revenue and circulation plummeting, what newspaper would TURN DOWN a paid ad? I bet my local newspaper would run an ad by Bin Laden is he paid cash.

[jfmckenna]

10:11 PM on 10/24/2010

The lack of gender complementarity in child rearing is the biggest causative factor in the rise in social pathology -- much bigger than joblessness, for instance. This newspaper is pursuing a courageous policy. The prison population has quadrupled in a recent 20-year period with 85% of the inmates having lacked the authority and particular kind of love that a father can offer. Kids raised without a mother usually have major problems too, and the existence of exceptions hasn't changed the negative megatrends. Let's reinforce the standard of sexual behavior within male-female marriage as the framework that maximizes love and stability during the most formative period of a human being's life.

[PrideNH]

02:17 AM on 10/25/2010

A) Please cite where you have gathered the data you have specified.
B) I am a gay father having raised three children without the presence of their mother and all are well adjusted older teens or adults now. Not for a few years either - for most of their lives.
C) What in the world does prison population have to do with this article? I am positive the correct answer is nothing.

I believe your comments are not only insulting and reprehensible to every single mother and father, but also their children. Children need love. I am sure all can agree on that. Whether that love comes from just a mom or just a dad, from a mom and a dad, from a mom and a mom or a dad and a dad is not important. Love is. I hope you did not spend too much time analyzing every part of life to bring love to your home!

What is best about unselfishly giving all the love they need is that their love in return is indisputable!

My family is awesome!

[jfmckenna]

06:35 PM on 10/25/2010

Fathers provide a particular and distinctive kind of love. For lack of that love, we have a society where the number of violent crimes has quadrupled since the sixties and almost all the criminals have been lacking fathers. The lack of a mother often has comparable consequences. You can just observe the particular way that toddlers relate to mothers that differs from the way they relate to fathers and if kids don't attach early to their mothers, they often don't attach properly to others in the surrounding area. There's a huge myth out there that gender is irrelevant in child-rearing -- that it only pertains to the anatomy of propagation.

[deciminyan]

08:42 PM on 10/24/2010

Fundamentalism is not restricted to religious fundamentalists: http://goo.gl/KUbg

[Mike Dennison]

06:25 PM on 10/24/2010

It seems as though if you can force lunch counters to integrate, then you could force newspapers to offer wedding announcements equally. Failing that, I sure hope this newspaper loses a lot of business.

[Scentedflower]

02:57 PM on 10/24/2010

This is why we have our own news pages called -Our own websites and facebook pages etc.
News- what news-biased news?.No thanks.

[Grumpy Old Dude]

02:44 PM on 10/24/2010

49 Fans
Become a fan
Unfan
I'll be here.

When you want to engage in reasoned debate, I'm ready.
**************************************************************************************************************
OK Dude, let's talk about the Social Contract. I'm assuming you are an educated person so, if the social contract does not work for some members of society, it is therefore invalid for all members of society. So ethically you are skating on thin ice with your attempt at defining societal norms as only those things that you do.

[cellardweller]

02:46 PM on 10/24/2010

So, let's do away with all institutions and norms, since there are those who will inevitably not go along?

Perhaps this has been tried. They must have gone extinct long ago.

[Grumpy Old Dude]

02:49 PM on 10/24/2010

Of course we do away with some institutions and norms in this country. How is that slavery thing working out? Ask women if they enjoy voting.

[cellardweller]

02:53 PM on 10/24/2010

The Dweller believes also that social norms and traditions are evolutionary. What has worked well for thousands of generations must have some strong merit. That doesn't mean that all is perfect. However, if we have to re-invent social norms and morality each generation, where would we be?

When changes to social norms are desired, there should be a compelling reason (i.e., survival) to effect them. I don't see any compulsion to do away with or modify the man-woman model of marriage. Those who do, seem to do so as a way to promote "equality". The greater question is how does it promote the well-being and the survival of the society?

[MKSinSA]

02:39 PM on 10/24/2010

And the print medium continues its deathspiral to irrelevancy.

[nanjemoy]

02:38 PM on 10/24/2010

Good plan. And also, they shouldn't print weddings notices for marriages of mixed-race couples, or different religions. Oh, and any weddings that are not arranged marriages, that would also firm up the moral character of their state and readers.

While we're in the business of not printing bad things, it would also help if they could please not print any Democratic criticisms of Republicans. They would still be doing a service by printing attacks by the Repubs, just don't offend our delicate eyes by printing anything Glen Beck and the Pope don't want to see.

[Jeffrey T Armstrong]

02:38 PM on 10/24/2010

And traditional marriages always work out so well.

[KriTiKiT]

02:37 PM on 10/24/2010

EWWWW Bill o rilliey is on the front page with the head line free speech

[warren danzig]

02:35 PM on 10/24/2010

I propose that the H.P. sell space to people who wish to make marriage announcements. Far more people visit the HP than subscribe to local news papers. It might be a valuable new stream of income. Just think of the traffic it could generate if HP readers could view and comment on wedding photos. We could spend hours criticizing people for being fat or ugly or gay or mismatched or gold diggers or craddle robbers. The one requirement for notices would have to be photos of the happy couple. That way we would feel connected to the people we try to destroy. It is so much more fun for many people to comment on how someone looks or the gaffs they make that to put in the hard effort needed to counter their beliefs and convictions. I am sure that the HP viewers could come up with numerous creative and funny criticisms of my wedding photos.