Date: Tue, 12 Mar 1996 09:53:13 +0100
From: glaad@glaad.org (GLAAD)
Subject: Community Alert - Salt Lake Tribune

**Sent to GLAAD by Erika Milvy (erika@well.com)**

Cheers And Jeers


by Dorothy Giobbe

THE SALT LAKE Tribune heard both cheers and jeers from readers last
month after running a profile of a gay male
couple who are parents to a nine-month-old girl.

The couple, Troy Duty and Maughn Rollins, came to the attention of the
Tribune last fall when they tried to place a
wedding notice in the newspaper to announce their impending commitment
ceremony.

The Tribune agreed to run the notice -- with a few restrictions. The
newspaper stipulated that the ad had to run on a
page separate from other wedding announcements, and told the couple that
the words "wedding" or "marriage"
could not be used.

"This was the first one and we wanted to walk softly," classified
manager Diana Butcher told a reporter from the
newspaper. "We wanted to see the reaction of the public before we made a
stronger statement."

On Oct. 1, the notice appeared along with a picture of the couple.

"Troy Duty and Maughn Rollins will formalize their relationship in a
commitment ceremony this evening at the
Santa Fe Restaurant," it read. "A reception will follow."

A few readers told the newspaper that they were uncomfortable with the
ad, but the biggest response came when the
Tribune followed up with a feature story about the couple a few months
later.

On Dec. 29, under the headline "With this Ring," Duty and Rollins talked
about their commitment to each other and to
Duty's nine-month-old niece, Nicole, whom the two are raising.

Shelledy said the story ran in the Home and Family section of the
newspaper to emphasize that there is more than
one kind of family.

"For some people, [gay relationships] are a big issue and will be an
issue until the day they die," Shelledy said. "They
know it exists and they want it out of sight and out of mind.

"On the other hand, it's a reality and I thought it was an interesting
story which was done quite sensitively."

When the article ran, Shinika Sykes was just settling into her new
position as reader advocate for the Tribune. Her
responsibilities include acting as a liaison between the newspaper and
the Salt Lake City community.

"That morning, the phones kept ringing and ringing and ringing," Sykes
remembered. "Initially, most of the calls were
negative, but around one o'clock, we started getting calls where people
said we were very brave to do the story --
there seemed to be some rational reasoning all of a sudden."

Letters soon began to arrive at the newspaper.

"It kept swinging back and forth," Sykes said of reaction to the
article. "Of the letters that were negative, they were
very biting and harsh, and some of them quoted the Bible."

For her first reader advocate column, Sykes discussed the issue with
readers.

"In the column, I said that even if they totally disagree with the
article, they must know that the newspaper mirrors the
world we live in," Sykes said.

"As the reader advocate, I want to be the liaison between the readers
and the newspaper, and I didn't want to blast
the readers or the newspaper," she added.

"But the article was so well-done, so well written and balanced, that I
had to come out and support the Tribune and
say that the newspaper handled this well."

contact:

Salt Lake Tribune
Box 867
Salt Lake City, UT 84110
fax: (801) 521-9418
e-mail: the.editors@sltrib.com

******************************************************************************
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
glaad@glaad.org
http://www.glaad.org

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, GLAAD, is a national
organization that promotes fair, accurate and inclusive representation of
individuals and events in the media as a means of combatting homophobia and
all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation or identity.
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