Dallas Morning News Publisher James M. Moroney III confirmed today that the newspaper will begin publishing same-sex marriage announcements under Weddings. The DMN has published same-sex marriage announcements for several years, under a separate header that’s currently called Commitments. But until now the newspaper has refused to publish the announcements, which are paid advertisements, under Weddings.
Mark Reed-Walkup and Dante Walkup of Irving, who were legally married in Washington, D.C., last year, filed a discrimination complaint against The DMN in December, alleging that the policy violates a Dallas city ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in public accommodations. The DMN initially indicated through its attorneys that it planned to defend the policy, based partly on Texas’ ban on same-sex marriage. But in a meeting with the couple on Thursday, Moroney and DMN Editor Bob Mong informed them of the policy change.
Moroney told Instant Tea today that the newspaper made the change, which takes effect immediately, because it was “the right thing to do,” adding that he isn’t worried about backlash from conservative readers.
“When you do the right thing, you just do the right thing,” Moroney said. “I believe that publishing same-sex marriages performed in states where they are legally allowed, that publishing those under the Weddings heading in our newspaper, is the right thing to do.”
The Walkups said their marriage announcement will appear in the DMN on Sunday, July 10.
“It was a tremendous relief,” Reed-Walkup said of Thursday’s news. “It’s been a very long, stressful process.”
The couple said they felt the issue was important because the announcements will allow young people to see that same-sex marriage is possible.
“We are legally married and we have the right to let everybody know about it, just like everybody else,” Dante Walkup said.
Although the couple prevailed, Reed-Walkup criticized the city of Dallas for its handling of the discrimination complaint. He said an investigator wasn’t assigned to the case until April, and city officials failed to communicate with the couple about the status of the complaint.
Reed-Walkup eventually set up meetings with Moroney and Mong on his own.
“Now I understand why 53 complaints have been filed and not a single one of them has ever been prosecuted,” Reed-Walkup said. “It’s broken and it needs fixed.”
Read a statement from the couple below.
July 1, 2011
We filed our anti-gay discrimination complaint with the city of Dallas in late December, 2010. After several months of waiting on the city to resolve this issue, we reached out to the Dallas Morning News to attempt to settle the case ourselves.
Jim Maroney (CEO) and Bob Mong (Editor) accepted our request and gave us an opportunity to present our case to them. On June 7, we met with them and they were very gracious and committed to us that they would revisit their policy.
Yesterday afternoon, June 30, we along with CeCe Cox (Resource Center Executive Director) met with Jim and Bob and they agreed to change their policy and allow same-gender wedding announcements to be placed in the marriage section of both their newspaper and on-line celebration section. Jim’s reasoning for the change was “because it was the right thing to do.”
Their on-line website will be gender-neutral to clearly indicate same-gender announcements are welcomed and accepted in their celebration categories of Engagement, Wedding and Anniversary.
We are thrilled with this decision and thank the Dallas Morning News for making this historic change. The new policy shows respect for our marriage and future couples who place a wedding ad with the Dallas Morning News.
We thank everyone who has offered tremendous support and encouragement since we filed the complaint last December.
In particular, we thank Shellie Crandall & Pam Buchmeyer who assisted us with a revised complaint prior to meeting with our investigator. They have been strong cheerleaders all the way and we appreciate them very much for their support and friendship.
We thank CeCe Cox who attended the meeting as a friend to witness this amazing moment.
We thank change.org for creating the on-line petition that generated close to 15,000 signatures.
And we thank GetEQUAL who also assisted us with creating pressure to help make this change.
We plan to run our wedding ad next Sunday, July 10.
“Your belief determines your action and your action determines your results, but first you have to believe.” Mark Victor Hansen
Believe in yourself!
Mark & Dante Walkup
Thank you Mr. James M. Moroney III, Publisher of Dallas Morning News, for supporting Equality for All! I pray your bravery to stand strong will give publishers across this nation the strength they need to follow suit!
FINALLY! At least it was all done in a civil manner instead of picket signs and yelling.
“It’s an inevitability that gays and lesbians will have equal rights.”. Morris Kight
Congratulations to Mark and Dante and a Deep in the Heart of Texas thank you to the DMN for their decision to do the right thing.
I’ll be sure to cancel my subscription to Dallas Morning News. You would think the members of the staff would actually listen to the people who keep their paper afloat about what they think…no wonder newspapers are dying…they keep pulling crap like this.
Saint, fortunately the internet has been more kindly to GLBT couples than any newspapes ever have been so I’d think twice before canceling your subscription. It will be replaced by a new G:BT reader in a New York second. Best wishes.
Time to end my 30 year subscription. I am one of the last people in my neighborhood taking the paper.
gary
Posted on July 2, 2011 at 4:20 pm:
“Time to end my 30 year subscription. I am one of the last people in my neighborhood taking the paper.”
————————– My God!!! You’re THAT old??? Can you even see the fine print? They do have large print editions, you know. Try that. (And you don’t have to read the engagement/marriage announcements, you know. There are other sections of the paper, poor man!
“Although the couple prevailed, Reed-Walkup criticized the city of Dallas for its handling of the discrimination complaint. He said an investigator wasn’t assigned to the case until April, and city officials failed to communicate with the couple about the status of the complaint.”
I agree with DMN’s new decision however not entirely with the couple’s criticism of the City of Dallas. The couple live in Irving and were married in Washington DC. Criticism directed at the government of a City in which someone is not a citizen seems unrealistic in this particular matter. The City of Dallas, like all cities today, can barely serve its own citizens and businesses and has little spare resources to spend on complaints from others.
There was no mention of a wedding advertisement in an Irving daily newspaper or the City of Irving’s policy on the matter. There was no mention why the couple thinks their complaint filed with the City of Dallas in December and not assigned until four months later deserved a higher priority over other city government actions. There was no mention why they complained “it is broken and it needs to fixed’ but offered no solutions or help to make the change they want in city government.
The only relevant fact remains is that a solution was found. Time to move on!
Gary – quit “taking the paper” it is causing a severe anal retention disorder. How after 30 years you can hold all that in? It will fill really good to just let it gooooooo. But do it someplace where we the people don’t have to smell it or see it. Cause we know Gary, and we have all seen and smelt it before. It’s the same tired story and we are not taking anymore either.
Thank you Mr. and Mr. Walkup for your determination. Congratulations.
What about freedom of the press, the News should not be forced to print anything they do not want to. Just more of President Obongo forcing his world views on the people.
Yiyiyiyi…Cindy, if you don’t like them, don’t rad them. Noone is forcing anyone to do anything. If the DFW newspaper thought they were right, they wouldn’t have changed. May you live forever under GWBunnypants’s reign of terror. I mean…REALLY?!!!
And this is far from a worldview, unless your world is the size of the DFW Metro area.
Equal Rights are EQUAL – No one should be denied a right to publish happy news in a newspaper regardless of their sexual orientation. Just because the not so “Great State of Texas” has a hateful ban against gays and lesbians does not mean that they should not be able to share the news that they were married SOMEWHERE ELSE. You people seriously need to examine your heads. Canceling a subscription because they were “DOING THE RIGHT THING” You people should be ashamed….
Oh yeah – and most importantly CONGRATULATIONS DANTE AND MIKE 🙂
NYC Obviously you are not from the area and don’t understand that The Dallas Morning News is not just for those of us who live in the Dallas city limits, the paper isn’t even published in the city of Dallas their main office is in Plano TX. This paper is for the Dallas/Ft Worth Metroplex and is the main source of printed news for a very large area which includes the city of Irving.
Its nice to see in an area so filled with hate, who discriminates against anyone who is not upper middle class, white, Christians that someone is in a position of power at a major company is taking a stand to give equality to everyone.
for the record I fit into the group that is not discriminated against in this city and it is sickening to see the way people are treated by pretentious jerks like Gary and Saint
Just as an aside for Gary and Saint… the newspapers nation-wide have many more avenues of business than just newspper subscriptions. They do indespensable printing needs of other businesses other than their own news. Every time you buy groceries or a car, home, boat, or sell items at garage sales. Many newspapers are now reporting their newspapers online, not only to save the environment from paper waste but because online is so much easier and faster. PLUS, one gets more news on an international scale. Much easier and more complete. So you go ahead and cancel your subscriptions. You’ll be helping the environment!
Cindi: for every finger you point at someone else (in your case, the president), there are three fingers pointed back at yourself. First, the president does not control the media. He never has, and he also had nothing to do with the outcome of this situation. Secondly, the management of the Dallas Morning News decided that it was time for a policy change. This was THEIR decision. No one is being “forced” (your word) to print anything. That means “freedom of the press” (your words) is very much alive and well in the United States of America.
Silly people, it IS freedom of the press. They went to the owner and editor and had a conversation about it. They felt it was I know this is hard for you to understand, “The right thing to do” someday you will see that. Maybe when you’re child is gay.
When these ads were published in a different section did they still charge the same fee? If they did, that was fraud!