What did your headline say? Same-sex marriage? Or gay?

The New York State Senate passing a bill allowing same-sex marriage was huge news, as was Governor Andrew Cuomo’s signing that bill into law later that night. Most New York papers gave that story big play on A1 on Saturday. Depending on which paper you saw, you either read that the bill allowed “same-sex marriage,” or that it allowed “gay marriage.”

I used to be a hardliner about using those terms in newspapers. I argued that “same-sex marriage” not presumptuous the way “gay marriage” was, and that it was more accurate. Here were my reasonings:

  • “Same-sex” refers to the genders of the couples, rather than the orientations of the people in the couple. If a man marries a man, we know they’re a same-sex marriage. But we don’t know that they identify as gay. They might identify as bisexual. Or, they could identify as straight. Or one could be gay and one could be bi, or one could be straight and the other gay. That seems like a stretch, but it could legally happen. As far as I know, the states that allow same-sex marriage don’t use gay tests. In all of the U.S., a lesbian could marry a gay man, but many wouldn’t think that makes it a “straight” marriage.
  • If a lesbian did marry a gay man, and thus both people were gay, could that be a “gay marriage”? Don’t say it can’t happen, because I know of at least two cases where it has happened.
  • There’s no law against the marriage between two gay people. As stated above, a gay man could marry a lesbian. The law is that two people of the same sex can’t get married, but as far as I know, the law doesn’t say that two gay people of the same sex couldn’t get married. I think two straight men would find it just as hard to get married in Missouri as two gay men.

Now, it might seem I’m being pedantic and splitting hairs. I totally understand that, which is why I don’t really make a deal about it anymore when talking to people in casual conversation. In general, I think we’re lax in conversation in way that we probably shouldn’t be in print. In conversation, I can ask for a “Kleenex,” even if you don’t have Kleenex brand tissues, because it’s become acceptable in conversation to refer to all tissues as “Kleenex.” “Dumpster” is no longer specific to the company, but can mean any large metal trash receptacle. We know what we mean.

But in print, we still hold to those rules. Every copy editing professor I had in college made it a point that if you don’t know it’s a Kleenex, call it a tissue. If you don’t know it’s a Frisbee, it’s a flying disc. I had one professor tell me of a correction a paper had to write when a reporter referred to a man as “African-American” when the man was not American at all. “We don’t make assumptions,” another professor told me.

I would mention all of these points to copy editor friends, many of whom agreed with me. But one smart copy editor friend of mine said, “Yeah, but ‘gay marriage’ sometimes fits in a head spec better than ‘same-sex marriage.'”

Thus, her paper’s policy was to use “same-sex marriage” in all copy, but give latitude in case “gay marriage” fit better in the headline. I’ve not explored too many other papers’ policies, but I would not be surprised if other papers have that policy, too.

And for the publications that use both “same-sex marriage” and “gay marriage” in copy, is there a policy for when to use one and not the other? Or is it OK to just switch them so as to not repeat the same term? I’d be interested to hear what discussions have gone on in other newsrooms.

I won’t deny that this dissection of language might seem anal-retentive. But I was a copy editor. It was my job to think this way.

More of The Boston Globe’s Bruins pages, infographics

Last weekend, The Boston Globe published a special section commemorating the Boston Bruins’ season and Stanley Cup victory. The section was emblematic of all the good coverage that the paper had published all season, both in the sports section and throughout the paper.

Here are some of my favorite pages The Boston Globe produced for the Bruins’ appearance in the series with the Canucks. Click on any of them for a larger view.

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The preview section
June 1, 2011

Boston Globe coverage of the Boston Bruins

Boston Globe coverage of the Boston Bruins

Here’s a closer look at that “Raising the cup” package:

Boston Globe coverage of the Boston Bruins

Here’s a nice comparison of the two teams:

Boston Globe coverage of the Boston Bruins

Boston Globe coverage of the Boston Bruins

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Game graphics

Both Daigo Fujiwara and Luke Knox worked hard at putting together full pages breaking down the shots, the goals and the performances of each player for each game. Each of these ran the day after the game.

Boston Globe coverage of the Boston Bruins

Boston Globe coverage of the Boston Bruins

Boston Globe coverage of the Boston Bruins

In total, there were seven of these pages, one after each game. Daigo had quite the task: plot each point on the ice, and then find a full-body photo that wouldn’t cover the points, and then cut it out and put it in the graphic. And do it all on deadline.

You’ll recall game 3 when Aaron Rome of the Canucks hit Bruin Nathan Horton on the chin, knocking Horton down. The instant replays tried to show what happened, but it wasn’t until I saw this graphic by Dave Butler that I fully understood what had happened.

Boston Globe coverage of the Boston Bruins

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The special section
June 19, 2011

Boston Globe coverage of the Boston Bruins

Boston Globe coverage of the Boston Bruins

This page features another great graphic by Daigo. I helped plug in some of the initial numbers, but he did much of the heavy lifting.

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Other

Daigo and Tom Giratikanon put together this cool online graphic showing how far into the playoffs each of Boston’s four main teams have gotten, going all the way back to the Boston Americans (now the Red Sox).

I got to put together the print version:

Boston Globe coverage of the Boston Bruins

These pages are only some of the great pages that the Globe produced this past season. I hope we’ll get to do it all again next year.

How Massachusetts, Canadian papers played Stanley Cup win

Last night’s Stanley Cup game was big news for a few reasons. It was the first time the Boston Bruins had won in 39 years. And on top of that, there were riots. In Vancouver.

So, take a look at how papers in Massachusetts and Canada played the game and the riots. Click any of the pages for a larger view. In a few days or so, I’ll have a look at how The Globe has played the Bruins in the playoffs and finals.

All images come from Newseum.

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The Boston Globe
Boston, Mass.

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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The Boston Herald
Boston, Mass.

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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The Enterprise
Brockton, Mass.

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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Telegram & Gazette
Worcester, Mass.

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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The Herald News
Fall River, Mass.

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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Cape Cod Times
Hyannis, Mass.

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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The Vancouver Sun
Vancouver, Canada

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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The Province
Vancouver, Canada

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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The Globe and Mail
Toronto, Canada

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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Edmonton Sun
Edmonton, Canada

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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Calgary Sun
Calgary, Canada

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Canada

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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Through GLAAD, Tracy Morgan could still redeem himself

Yesterday, I blogged that I wanted to see Tracy Morgan and Joakim Noah visit drop-in centers and halfway houses for LGBT youth. Both men have recently apologized for having offended the LGBT community. Noah called a fan “fa****” and Morgan described what he’d do if he had a gay son. Noah was fined $50,000 and Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 for a similar offense.

After paying that fine, Noah said, “I made a mistake, learn from it and move on. That’s about it.”

I mused that I wondered how much he could learn from paying a fine that doesn’t go to helping gay youth. I said I’d rather see him use his time and effort to make a human connection with the kids who have to leave their homes because their families cannot accept that they’re gay.

It seems Tracy Morgan will indeed do just that. He will team with GLAAD and meet with residents of New York’s Ali Forney Center, which provides housing and support to homeless LGBT youth and families who have lost children to anti-gay violence. Additionally, Morgan will travel to Nashville, where Morgan will apologize to the audience he offended.

In a statement through GLAAD, Morgan said:

“I know how bad bullying can hurt. I was bullied when I was a kid. I’m sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean it. I never want to use my comedy to hurt anyone… My family knew what it was like to feel different. My brother was disabled, and I lost my father to AIDS in 1987. My dad wasn’t gay but I also learned about homophobia then because of how people treated people who were sick with that.”

To me, this is what “it gets better” could and should look like. I don’t want Joakim Noah’s $50,000 or Kobe’s $100,000 if those are just symbolic fines. I’d rather have them see the power of their words.

You might say, “Pat, why are you harping on this?” Because I’ve heard strangers call me “fa****.” Because I’ve heard people say gay slurs “in the heat of the moment” when they were looking for a synonym for “asshole” or “idiot.” I know what it’s like to know that there are some places that are safer for me than others. And until Noah makes an effort to show that he knows this is wrong and hurtful, I can’t help but think he’s ashamed he got caught and not feeling guilty because he did something wrong. I guess that shouldn’t matter, but as someone who has been called a fa**** by strangers, I think I still strive for a world where someone is not calling me that because they think it’s wrong, rather than a world where someone would want to call me that but won’t because they’d get called out for it.

Another way to look at it: When Joakim Noah got mad at that fan and called him a slur, he called him “fa****.” Why? Because the guy was doing something stereotypically gay? No, because the guy was doing something he didn’t like. That’s it. But why “fa****” and not the N word or a word for a religious group? Because he knows those words are offensive and he probably knows people who fit in those minority groups.

I think until more people know people who are gay, gay slurs will seem acceptable to them to use in “the heat of the moment” in ways that the N word or other words are not acceptable.

Joakim Noah said he paid his fine and “that’s about it, let’s move on.” Tracy Morgan, on the other hand, is allowing this to transform him and he’s reacting with humility and graciousness. He made a mistake, but he’s not being cavalier in his response. That these guys made a mistake didn’t bother me as much as the flippant “let’s move on” response. That goes for Tim Hardaway, too, whose remarks were way worse than Joakim Noah’s. Sometimes the way you handle your mistake can be more offensive than the initial mistake.

But in the case of Tracy Morgan, the steps he’s taking show that he seems to know the gravity of his words. I hope that Tracy Morgan can eventually be viewed as a champion of gay rights who came to the cause after realizing his mistakes. That would mean a lot more to me than Joakim Noah paying a fine and trying to forget it and “move on.”

Celebrities might not remember each other’s bigoted rants, but we do

Tracy Morgan’s recent comedy routine about a hypothetically gay son has drawn critics to say he should be fired from “30 Rock.” Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls was fined $50,000 for calling a fan “Fa****” during a game. Both have since apologized.

At least once a year, some celebrity has to issue an apology for offending some group. I don’t care if these people think what they said was offensive, but how did they not think anyone else could be offended? Or that it wouldn’t get noticed? Do these people never see any news or gossip sites?
Let’s just run down a few of the big things in the last few years. Just a few:

And these are just some of the recent occurrences in which celebrities caused outcries with slurs. The point is, there have been enough of them that other celebrities could look at them and say, “Gee, if I say this, people might get upset and I could be fired or at the very least, ostracized.”

But they don’t get it. And I’m not sure Joakim Noah or Tracy Morgan get why this was wrong. After Noah was fined $50,000, he said, “I made a mistake, learn from it and move on. That’s about it.”

But that’s not “about it,” Joakim. Think about Tyler Clementi, who was outed as gay on the Internet and subsequently jumped off the George Washington Bridge to his death. Or the other LGBT youth who were bullied and died by suicide. Or Matthew Shepard, who was beaten and left on a fence to die. Many of these celebrities will attribute their slip-ups to the “heat of the moment” or a “moment of frustration,” but for the rest of us, we don’t get to live in that vacuum. We have the context of knowing how deep and hurtful “fa****” can be, whether it’s heard at a club in Myrtle Beach or from a car in Jacksonville’s Riverside neighborhood. You get to apologize, pay and “move on,” but for the actual “faggots,” Joakim, we have to live with the reality of that word every day.

It would be a great tragedy if Joakim Noah and Tracy Morgan would just “move on” and try to forget these incidents. Apologies and fines are one thing, but I think both could benefit from spending time with groups that serve the LGBT community. There drop-in centers for LGBT youth with nowhere else to go. Tracy Morgan joked about the abuse he would dish out if his son were gay. To many kids at these centers, that joke is a harsh reality. When Morgan’s tirade is forgotten about and there’s a new controversy, these kids can’t forget it. If Morgan were to visit these places, he might not forget it, either. We’re telling a whole generation of gay youth that “it gets better,” but we need to hold ourselves and our celebrities accountable to make sure that it does get better.

How The Boston Globe/Boston.com covered the tornadoes

The Boston Globe and Boston.com have done a great job covering Wednesday night’s tornadoes in Western and Central Massachusetts. I’ve included the last three days’ front pages, as well as some inside pages, photos and graphics. To see all of the Boston Globe/Boston.com coverage, go here.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 2

The inside page:

The top photo is by Matthew Cavanaugh, for the Boston Globe:

We used NOAA’s updates to put together this map of reported touchdowns and deaths:

Javier Zarracina quickly put together this explainer on the anatomy of a tornado:

To read the main bar (gang byline of Travis Andersen, Eric Moskowitz, Martin Finucane, Glen Johnson, Bryan Marquard, and David Abel), go here.

To read Carolyn Y. Johnson’s story on how tornadoes form, go here.

To see Tom Giratikanon’s map of the history of tornadoes in Massachusetts, go here.

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FRIDAY, JUNE 3

We had several inside pages, including this color photo page:

Which included this great photo by David L. Ryan:

Elsewhere inside was this great map by James Abundis with reporter Brian Ballou. It shows the varying damage of houses on Pennsylvania Avenue in Springfield.

To read Ballou’s story, go here.

With updates from the National Weather Service, we were able to show which cities had warnings, and more reported touchdowns:

Javier Zarracina put together an explainer showing how the National Guard and FEMA were deployed to coordinate the search and rescue operations:

To read Brian MacQuarrie’s story, go here.

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SATURDAY, JUNE 4

The photo up top is by John Tlumacki:

To read Stephanie Ebbert’s story, go here.

To read Brian MacQuarrie’s story, go here.

To see all of the Boston Globe/Boston.com coverage, go here.

WEB COMIC: The conversation many journalists hate, pt. 1

I sometimes wonder what it would be like if we were all so cavalier to introduce our grievances about topic X as soon as we learn about someone’s allegiance to said topic. Or how inappropriate it would be if we talked about a stranger’s recently deceased relatives the way we talk about their recently laid-off colleagues.

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