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Detroit Jewish News to publish same-sex couples' announcements

SOUTHFIELD – The Detroit Jewish News has decided to publish the engagement, union, anniversary and birth announcements of same-sex couples.
The decision was made after consulting with the Southfield-based weekly's reader advisory board last month, Jewish News editor Robert Sklar said. Not every member liked the idea, but enough agreed it was time.
"We felt this step made sense," Sklar told the Detroit Free Press for a Sept. 9 story. "The gay and lesbian community is not asking us to do anything different or more; they just want to be treated like any other. If we're really going to be the mirror of the Jewish community, we have to reflect what's going on. To ignore it seems wrong."
The Michigan Board of Rabbis will not take a position on the issue, said its president, Rabbi Elliot Pachter of Congregation B'nai Moshe, a Conservative synagogue in West Bloomfield.
"Because we're from different movements from across the spectrum, we agree there are matters we're just not going to reach consensus on," he said.
Whether the Jewish News will have an opportunity to exercise its new openness remains to be seen. Sklar said the News has received no more than three announcements from same-sex couples in four years. The first, four years ago, set the discussion in motion, he said.

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