Reuters | Queerty.com | Arkansas Matters
Terrence James had a funeral home submit an obituary to the Batesville Daily Guard for his partner of ten years, who died on June 11 of spinal meningitis. The paper edited James’ name out of the obit — “the person who was entrusted to make the decision when to remove life support,” he notes. Oscar Jones, whose family has owned the small daily for 82 years, tells Reuters’ Suzi Parker that the Daily Guard has a policy of not listing names of unmarried partners — gay or straight — in free obituaries.
Our policy has more to do with space and manpower issues than it does sexual orientation. Those policies are stuck in a drawer and don’t get reviewed often. Frankly, it hasn’t come up before, but it’s something that needs to be reviewed. I truly sympathize with this family.
UPDATE: The paper has now offered to print the obituary without any edits. GLAAD will pay the insertion fee, and the Daily Guard says it will donate that fee in man’s memory.
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