In 2002, at the urging of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, the New York Times changed its policy and ran its first wedding announcement for a same-sex couple. The couple, Daniel Gross and Steven Goldstein, entered into a civil union in Vermont on Sept. 1, 2002.
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The men are interviewed for a great videostory in the paper’s Vows: State of the Unions feature.
While same-sex marriage announcements may be de rigueur now, the move by the NYT was significant. NLGJA met with gay and lesbian members of the newspaper’s staff and Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and other senior officers of The New York Times in December 2001 to discuss the change.
In a press release (found, of all places, on Concerned Women for America’s website) NLGJA’s then-president Robert Dodge applauded the decision.
“The Times decision is historic,” said Robert Dodge, president of NLGJA and national economics correspondent of The Dallas Morning News. “This decision will stand as a beacon for other major news organizations which are also eager to maintain fairness and equity in their coverage of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.”
The meeting with The Times and the subsequent announcement underscore the role and influence that NLGJA members have working from within the news industry to advance the organization’s goals of fairness and accuracy in covering the gay and lesbian community.