By Heather Hollingsworth
Associated Press Writer
Three advertisers are pulling their business from a Warrensburg newspaper and several readers are threatening to cancel their subscriptions after the publication of a same-sex engagement announcement.
For John Scott Jr., 29, and Elijah Davidson, 29, asking The Daily Star-Journal in Warrensburg to run a photo and announcement of their Nov. 13 commitment ceremony was all about equality.
"I want people to know that he makes me happy, and all we want is to be happy just like straight couples," Davidson, of Warrensburg, said during a telephone interview Wednesday.
Such announcements have become increasingly common. About 900 daily newspapers ran same-sex commitment announcements by the end of 2006, according to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, a media watchdog group.
Rashad Robinson, the senior director of programs at the group, said The New York Times helped start the surge when it began running such announcements in 2002.
"It's much more widespread than folks would believe, and I think the folks who are making a big stink out of it are truly outside of the mainstream," Robinson said.
The Daily Star-Journal, which has a circulation of about 4,700, ran the Scott-Davidson announcement on Sept. 26. Since then, the paper has received more than a dozen letters for and against the announcement. Seven of them ran in the Friday edition _ all of them expressing strong disagreement.
"Your bold decision to promote this lifestyle is a flagrant attack on the traditional family God has instituted for us," wrote Bob Ingle, pastor of First Baptist Church in Warrensburg.
Two other readers, Jack and Serena Dillingham, wrote the decision to run the announcement showed a "lack of respect for family values and a lack of concern for the unnatural lifestyle."
Several of the letter writers threatened to stop buying the newspaper, and at least two people told the circulation department the announcement was the reason they were canceling their subscriptions, said news editor Nan Cocke.
Cocke referred other questions to publisher Avis Tucker, who did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
Davidson said the negative response has not dampened the couple's enthusiasm for the approaching ceremony in which they'll exchange vows before friends and family. The event will coincide with the one-year anniversary of when they began dating.
"I am hoping that since me and John put our thing in the paper, that other gay couples who feel like they shouldn't or have been afraid to do it will come forward and do it too," he said. "And they'll express their love and let people know that they're happy and they want to spend the rest of their lives together."
