April 24, 2004

Seattle Times
PO Box 70
Seattle, WA 98111 

Dear Editors:

Thank you for your April 23 article about newspapers’ policies
regarding wedding announcements for same-gender couples.  We 
were confused, however, by the quote from the executive director 
of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association, who said, “as a 
newspaper I can see where you’d not want to get in the middle of 
it.”  The editors and publishers of every newspaper that prints 
wedding and/or marriage announcements are going to have to take 
a position on one side or the other.  Either they treat the 
weddings and marriages of same-gender couples equally or they 
don’t.  And in cases where the announcements are from couples 
married in religious weddings, they must decide whether they 
respect the beliefs and practices of the religious organizations, 
congregations and clergy who bless the couples’ relationships. 


Sincerely,
Barbara Lamond Purdom			
Christopher Purdom
Interfaith Working Group Coordinators