Date: Sat, 29 Jan 94 10:57:33 EST
From: kevyn@aol.com
Subject: Manhattan Mercury Controversy


Greetings, Manhattan Queers:

A situation has arisen with the Manhattan Mercury which you should be made
aware of.


On Tuesday, January 25, Theresa L. Simpson of Manhattan died of cancer.
Theresa was 38.

Theresa (and her partner of 15 years, Jan) was a member of our community.

Theresa's family wished Jan to be listed as a survivor in the obituary to be
published in the Mercury.

When the obituary was printed on Thursday, (a beautifully written obituary,
BTW), all references to Jan were omitted.

We know why, too. Bill Felber, executive editor of the Mercury, has stated
that he will not list same-gender partners as survivors because they "are not
legally recognized as family in Kansas."

Felber has negated a 15-year relationship with the stroke of a blue pen.

This is not the first time this has happened in the Mercury, either. Last
fall, a similar incident took place, where all references to the lesbian
partner of a deceased woman was omited from the obituary by Felber.


Last summer, Felber stated in an editorial that he would not allow the
Mercury to publish announcements of gay weddings because, in his words, e did
not want the Mercury to "contribute to the decline f the American Family."


I urge you, PLEASE write to the Mercury and express your outrage over this
obscene policy. 


The Manhattan Mercury
Letters to the Editor
P.O. Box 787
Manhattan, KS 66502


===========================================================
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 94 02:01:47 EST
From: kevyn@aol.com
Subject: Letter to Manhattan Mercury

Manhattan Queers:

This letter was written by a friend here in town who,
unfortunately, must remain anonymous. It is being sent to
the Manhattan Mercury in response to the Mercury's recent
decision to NOT print longtime companions as survivors in
obituaries.

Kevyn

+-=======================================================-+

                                   January  29, 1994

To The Guys at the Manhattan Mercury

    I wuz jest sayin the other day, I wuz, this here
Manhattan has become quite the cos-mo-po-lee-tan town.
     Why, the folks in the Big Apple kin jest take note we
ain't no truck stop on Highway 70. We got a Dillon's
superstore oughtta make folks down the road take notice. We
got a gen-yu-ine French restaurant where you cain't even
read the menu if you ain't been to high school. I seen theyz
buildin' a mosque. And we got ourselves a Blockbuster Video
store; why you kin get the same movies theyz watching in
Minneapolis. Maybe our mall don't have as many square feet
as theirs, but we got the same stores, I'll wager.
     Only thing is our paper, The Manhattan Mercury. Cain't
quite figger it, cause it prints noows from all over the
world, and Kansas too. Fit or not. I seen the word "penis" a
couple times so I kin tell you got some bona fide
journalists. Saw a car-toon, in tune with the times, with
the first lady makin' ready with a cleaver. And it don't
look like anybody there's much squeamish about that Sunday
feller with the clanging balls. Don't appear you is hung up
on old fashioned notions of good taste...don't seem to got
no puritanical fers of mentioning S-E-X.
     How come then you won't print an obituary the way the
family writes if it says one of the survivors is "a friend,
of the home"? I sure am grieved that up to date fellers like
you can't bring yourselves to say the name of a life
partner, if they happen to be of the same sex.  Now, the way
I'm counting, it's twice in a year that your editors have
let homophobia censor the last wishes of the departed.
That's twice too many.
     I got  noows for you (in case your reporters ain't
figgered it out yet): homosexuals (let's hear you say the
word, Mister Editors) --lesbians and gay men-- live in
Manhattan. You know what we do here? We don't Sodom and
Gommorahlize: we earn, go to church, pay taxes. spend money,
give to the United Way, and a few of us even buy your lousy
paper. But if we die here, we ain't nobody.
     It's too bad you got your heads stuck in the Dark Ages
when the whole durn rest of the town is headin' right square
into the Real World.

                  Signed,

                  Just Another Local Rube


P.S. You know, it isn't where your heads are that bothers
me; it's where your hearts aren't.


copies to:

Ed Seaton
Bill Felber
Walt Braun
Richard Pretorious
Flint Hills Alliance - c/o Kevyn Jacobs