Of all the reasons to cancel your print newspaper subscription to the Washington Post — 1) You can read it for free online; 2) You can read it for free on your iPhone; 3) You rely on a news clipping service like Google News or Newser; 4) Politico is just more fun; 5) The Drudge Report will tell you if there’s anything worth reading in WaPo — seeing two homosexual men kiss outside Washington D.C.’s Superior Court is among the lamest of them all.
But that’s just what twenty-seven subscribers did after seeing Jeremy Ames and Taka Ariga defile frontpage newsprint and share a smooch. “Almost immediately,” writes ombudsman Andrew Alexander, “I began hearing from upset readers. … A few of the readers have engaged in rants, often with anti-gay slurs. One called me to complain about ‘promoting a faggot lifestyle.’ Another complained about the photo in an e-mail to the two Post reporters who wrote Thursday’s story about the licenses: ‘That kind of stuff makes normal people want to throw up. People have kids who are being exposed to this crap. I will be glad when your rag goes out of business. Real men marry women.’ But most simply said The Post had offended their sensibilities by publishing the photo, especially on the front page.”
Oh come on. There wasn’t even any tongue.
terrwill
Such macho readers!!!!
Taylor Siluwé
Yeah, this was no surprise.
But whenever equal rights are extended and make the headlines, there is always a backlash of verbal ignorance and bigotry.
In the sixties, those same neanderthals would have also screamed about interracial action, tongue or no tongue.
Fortunately in the comment thread of that post, many sane people commended the post for printing a moment to certainly be celebrated, that is was a wonderful sign of changing times and society’s forward progression.
Hate is only strong when good, progressive people sit quietly and do nothing. Send emails of support to WaPo and if you can subscribe.
Screw those cavemen who canceled, and good riddance.
strumpetwindsock
As stupid as this behaviour is, it is better to see them shutting themselves up in a closet rather than expecting that we should go back into one.
Cam
This is what terrified bigots more than anything…our existance being acknowledged. This is also why they are pushing so hard against repealing DADT. How do you tell an openly gay servicemember who just saved several lives and is a hero, that he doesn’t have the right to get married or have job protections. They all wish that there was a media blackout on our existence.
j
I’m not one to complain about queerty’s faulty editing, because I think it does us a great service overall, but are reading something for free online and on the web two different points? Am I missing something? Not tryin’ to be rude, I’m just abit confused.
Taylor Siluwé
No. 5 · j
The thought crossed my mind too, but I was afraid of seeming snippy. 😉
No. 4 · Cam
Exactly. No one wants to be a bigot. That’s why they all call it a “choice”, so they can feel better about themselves. Once they admit that it’s not, their bigotry would be revealed for what it is.
The Artist
Who the hell would hate such a beautiful picture! Maybe they like it better when people are killing each other and brandishing guns. PEACELUVNBILD!
tazz
wahhhhhhh
Excuse me while I give a shit. Just replace “faggot” with the N-word and we’re in the same predicament
delurker
It’s dumb that they canceled over this. They should have canceled because the paper is a neo-con rag.
The Bony Man
I have such a hard time imagining that people could be upset over something so innocent. I have seen far more lewd acts committed by little old ladies and their husbands. How could this little peck ever upset anyone? Clearly, these people have issues they need to work through.
Jose
Ugh
Nothing much else to say.
tjr101
This is no surprise at all, even in the most liberal cities and towns across America many people will still cringe at just the sight of two men holding hands.
jason
This could easily be a peck between cousins. In any case, isn’t it interesting that a simple, sanitized male-male kiss can cause such consternation? Perhaps what homophobes fear more than anything else is the sight of two men kissing.
Interestingly, you’ll often find that these same homophobes aren’t offended by the sight of two women kissing. It’s the two men that’s the pivotal thing. It’s a gender thing.
Steve
I’ve been wondering about this for several days. For only 27 readers out of roughly 800,000 to cancel, the “outrage” must have been mild indeed. I would expect almost that many cancellations on an average day, due to people being transferred out of the area by their employers.
I finally realized why there were so few:
The great majority of so-called “conservative” people, do not read. So, they never subscribed to the paper in the first place.
Ted
One year later: http://www.metroweekly.com/news/?ak=6048