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Gay Issues

• November 18 -- The Times' Toilet Humor
Reporter Robin Finn finds anti-Bush toilet humor ("I Pee on Bushes") amusing.

• November 4 -- How Ever Did He Win?
Todd Purdum admits Bush won decisively, while suggesting his actual policies have failed: "Surveys of voters leaving the polls found that a majority believed the national economy was not so good, that tax cuts had done nothing to help it and that the war in Iraq had jeopardized national security. But fully one-fifth of voters said they cared most about 'moral values' -- as many as cared about terrorism and the economy -- and 8 in 10 of them chose Mr. Bush."

• November 3 -- Kerry Wins! Says Media Types
Frank Bruni blogged the Campaign 2004 coverage and noted some of his media colleagues were predicting a Kerry win early on: "By an extremely significant margin -- OK, five to one -- my news media colleagues, a.k.a. drinking buddies, said their readings of the signs, couple with their instincts, pointed toward a victory for Senator John Kerry."

• October 18 -- Making Ted Kennedy Look Moderate
Editorial writer Adam Cohen lays out the fearsome fruits of a potential second term for Bush: "Abortion might be a crime in most states. Gay people could be thrown in prison for having sex in their homes. States might be free to become mini-theocracies, endorsing Christianity and using tax money to help spread the gospel."

• September 29 -- Still No Liberals for Gay Marriage
Sarah Kershaw and James Dao track the state-to-state prospects of gay marriage bans and pile on the "conservative" labels.

• September 8 -- Republicans "Condemning Gay Parents"
David Kirkpatrick says the Republican platform "condemns gay parents."

• August 31 -- NYT Springs at "Conservative" Republican Platform -- But Took a Dive Over the Democrat's Liberal One
The "conservative" Republican platform makes the lead headline of the Times and even gets its own front-page story. So how did the paper cover the liberal Democratic platform back in July?

• August 30 -- The Lead Convention Story So Far: Left-Wing Gripes
A Republican Party "controversy" makes the front page of the Times special convention section: David Kirkpatrick's story, "Cheney Daughter's Political Role Disappoints Some Gay Activists," is dominated by criticism from left-wing gay-rights groups.

• July 26 -- "Is the New York Times a Liberal Newspaper? Of Course It Is."
Daniel Okrent, the Times' "public editor," probably didn't make himself very popular in the newsroom when he admitted the obvious yesterday.

• July 15 -- Speaking Frankly, Opposing Gay Marriage = Homophobia
Movie critic Stephen Holden reviews a highly favorable documentary of openly gay liberal, and arch-Clinton defender, Rep. Barney Frank: "When anti-Clinton forces could offer nothing more than unprovable charges of Mr. Clinton's misconduct, they were forced to concentrate on perjury and the definition of sex." Then Holden takes on "homophobic" conservatives.

• May 18 -- Ring-Bearers for Gay Marriage in Massachusetts
"Hundreds of Same-Sex Couples Wed in Massachusetts" is the headline over a huge photo spanning four columns of the Times front page, accompanying a lead story that lets liberal gay advocates compare the gay weddings to the civil rights movement.

• May 17 -- Still No Liberals in the Gay Marriage Debate
Sunday's front-page sports a story by conservative beat reporter David Kirkpatrick on the apparent lack of interest that conservative religious activists have shown regarding a proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage.

• May 10 -- More Conservative Conservatives
Religion reporter Laurie Goodstein provides an amusing example of the Times' obsession with "conservatives," using the term seven times within the first 220 words of a story.

• April 14 -- You Mean Kerry's Against Gay Marriage Too?
A story on Log Cabin Republicans who feel alienated by Bush insists: "While Log Cabin is not actively working against Bush, it is doing the next best thing: running commercials in seven swing states opposing the federal marriage amendment." Not once is it mentioned John Kerry opposes gay marriage as well.

• March 31 -- Model, Liberalism
Editor William Norwich introduces a 20's-themed photo spread by displaying his Vogue grasp on politics: "In the year 2004, conservatives are still getting their knickers in a twist over rebels and body parts. Only yesterday they were prohibiting alcohol. Today's Prohibition would censor whom you can love, honor and obey."

• March 10 -- A Laudatory Look At a Gay Lawmaker
The Times churns out another soft-focus profile of a gay politician: "The [marathon] photos are a source of strength to Ms. Drenner, Georgia's only openly gay legislator, who has become the most visible--and derided--opponent of an effort to enact a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage."

• March 9 -- The Times' Turnaround on Civil Disobedience
Conservative beat reporter David Kirkpatrick actually conducts a non-hostile interview with Judge Roy Moore, the Ten Commandments judge, for the Sunday Week in Review.

• March 8 -- Will Rest of Media Pounce on Kerry's "Gay" Gaffe?
David Halbfinger follows Kerry to a black college in Mississippi: "Senator John Kerry showed he could preach from the pulpit one minute and throw political punches the next." But will the rest of the media pounce on the gaffe Halbfinger reports?

• March 4 -- Bad for Bush to Push Marriage Amendment
Carl Hulse puts the onus on Bush and Republicans to justify their push for a marriage amendment: "Senate Republican leaders said Wednesday that they would aggressively pursue a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages despite Democratic arguments that the proposal is divisive, unnecessary and a distraction from more pressing issues." And are there really no liberals involved in the fight over gay marriage?

• March 3 -- Marriage Defenders and the Return of George Wallace, Take 2
Another day, another Times columnist conflating traditional marriage supporters with anti-black racists.

• March 2 -- Marriage Defenders and the Return of George Wallace
Frank Rich hooks gay marriage to the civil rights movement--and compares marriage defenders to Southern segregationists.

• March 2 -- Bigots and Bashers, Oh My!
The Times passes along "moderate" worries that Bush "might look like a gay basher."

• March 1 -- Uneducated Southern Fundies Against Gay Marriage?
David Kirkpatrick finds a Michigan evangelical community not particularly opposed to gay marriage. Is it because people are just more educated up North?

• February 25 -- Rejecting Bush's Marriage Proposal
A lead editorial distorts Bush's position on a gay marriage amendment: "The president's speech was a call for taking rights away from gay Americans."

• February 25 -- Married to the Conservative Label
Robin Toner's analysis of Bush's gay marriage amendment announcement mentions "conservative" 17 times and suggests a constitutional amendment may alienate centrists. Yet the Times own poll shows such an amendment has centrist appeal.

• February 19 -- Double Standards On Civil Disobedience?
The Ten Commandments Judge vs. the Gay Marriage Mayor: Are there double standards on civil disobedience at the Times?

• February 3 -- Gay Marriage Ban "Discrimination"
Frank Rich calls a gay marriage ban "discrimination."

• January 8 -- On Reagan and AIDS, Times Catches Up With Times Watch
The Times corrects a piece falsely accusing Reagan of never having mentioned AIDS--three weeks after Times Watch did.

• December 3 -- Blasphemous to Oppose Gay Marriage
Columnist Nicholas Kristof declares: "To me, the blasphemy is not in those who want to share their lives with others of the same sex, but rather in anyone presumptuous enough to vilify that love."

• November 25 -- Giddy Over Gay Marriage
The Massachusetts ruling opening the door to gay marriage inspires the Times to two striking examples of labeling bias. To Elisabeth Bumiller, those against gay marriage are "social conservatives," those in favor are not liberals but "gays, lesbians and their supporters." Yet the supporter quoted most prominently is Marxist playwright Tony Kushner, author of the Reagan-hating "Angels in America." Tamar Lewin replicates the exact pattern of labeling bias as Bumiller: Five conservative mentions versus zero liberals.

• November 25 -- "Perfect Timing" for Gay Marriage
Wedding writer Lois Smith Brady assumes her readers are as giddy as she about the Massachusetts Supreme Court legalizing gay marriage: "Last week's ruling by the highest court in Massachusetts legalizing gay marriage was perfectly timed in many ways....it comes just in time for same-sex couples to begin planning a June wedding."

• November 25 -- "A New Underground Railroad" for Gays to Canada?
Clifford Krauss likens the trek of U.S. gays marrying in Canada to the Underground Railroad for escaping slaves: "Gay Couples Follow a Trail North Blazed by Slaves and War Resisters." A teaser embedded in another story on gay marriage makes the connection explicit: "A New Underground Railroad: Hundreds of Americans, fleeing state laws, are going to Canada to marry." The story opens with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.

• November 20 -- Justice Scalia: "Apocalyptic" but Basically Right
Linda Greenhouse's piece on the Mass. Supreme Court decision striking down gay marriage bans credits conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia with "apocalyptic statements," while calling the Mass. decision "a strikingly inclusive decision that both apologized for the past and, looking to the future, anchored the gay-rights claim at issue in the case firmly in the tradition of human rights at the broadest level."

• July 2 -- The Bias of Ms. Jane Brody
Jane Brody’s fawning story on gay adoption reads like a press release from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

• June 2 -- The Wrong Gay
Sheryl Gay Stolberg’s Sunday report on gays and the White House claims: “As president, Mr. Bush has appointed several openly gay people, including James C. Hormel, the ambassador to Romania, to high-level jobs.” But she’s got the wrong gay.

• May 5 -- Hi Ya, Homophobes!
A Times editorial, “Rally Round Intolerance,” claims Sen. Rick Santorum “once more raised suspicions that the G.O.P. extends a strategic welcome to homophobes.”

• May 2 -- Stop the Presses: Gay Group Dislikes Santorum Comments
Sen. Rick Santorum met with some constituents in his office, hardly a rare occurrence on Capitol Hill. So why did Sheryl Gay Stolberg consider it newsworthy? Read the first five words of her story and take a guess.

• April 29 -- Strange Republican Rituals
Times reporter Richard Berke livened up the normally soporific Washington Week in Review when the topic turned to Sen. Santorum’s remarks on homosexuals.

• April 25 -- The Times Santorum Obsession
While piling on Sen. Rick Santorum over his remarks on gays, the Times claims the senator led the fight “to ban the procedure opponents call late-term abortion.” Actually, that’s only what the Times calls it. 

• April 25 -- Wash Hands After Reading
The Times also runs an opinion piece on Sen. Santorum by sex columnist Dan Savage, who denounces Gary Bauer and other prominent Republicans. Left unmentioned is Savage’s rather unhealthy obsession with Bauer.