THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: A newspaper in New Hampshire has come under fire for refusing to print wedding announce-ments for homosexual couples, despite same-sex marriage being legal in the US state.
The [sic] Union Leader, New Hampshire's largest newspaper, declined to publish a notice of the marriage of two men in Portsmouth on Saturday.
New Hampshire is one of five US states to have legalised homosexual marriage.
It became legal on January 1, two years after civil partnerships were allowed.
Joseph McQuaid, the publisher of the Manchester-based newspaper, said that it was not "anti-gay", but its stance was that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
"While the law sanctions gay marriage, it neither demands that churches perform them or that our First Amendment right to choose what we print be suspended," Mr McQuaid said in a statement. >>> Jon Swaine, New York | Sunday, October 24, 2010
["This newspaper has never published wedding or engagement announcements from homosexual couples. It would be hypocritical of us to do so, given our belief that marriage is and needs to remain a social and civil structure between men and women, and our opposition to the recent state law legalizing gay marriage.
That law was not subject to public referendum and the governor (John Lynch) who signed it was elected after telling voters that he was opposed to gay marriage. Indeed, in no state where the public has been allowed a direct vote on the subject has gay marriage prevailed.
We are not "anti-gay." We are for marriage remaining the important man-woman institution it has always been.
While the law sanctions gay marriage, it neither demands that churches perform them or that our First Amendment right to choose what we print be suspended. In accordance with that right, we continue our longstanding policy of printing letters to the editor from New Hampshire citizens, whether or not they agree with us."
-Joseph W. McQuaid Publisher – Source]
