Saturday, May 17, 2008

Enlightened Perspectives

The recent California Supreme Court decision overturning the ban on same-sex marriage got me thinking about two wonderful commentaries I read in The San Francisco Chronicle, Louis Freedberg's "Personal Perspective: My Gay Neighbors," and "Everyday Life Best Argument for Gay Marriage," by C.W. Nevius.

Now, I hate the Chronicle. My opinion is that it is a tabloid masquerading as a newspaper. I don't think the writing is stellar. I don't think the editing is exceptional. I think it strongly follows the trend to pander to it's readers including a dumbing down of all that is reported. I feel that the focus is too far toward making the news entertaining than actually hard reporting of the facts and well thought out analysis. Also, the excessive amount of reporting that is based on some person or company's public relations statement or product releases, 99% of which are not news but simple advertising, overwhelms me. Almost a complete rag. All my opinion. However...

...in a city as uber-liberal as San Francisco - surrounded by pockets of conservatism, the opinion and editorial pages shine. Perhaps the only reasons I can't stop myself completely from reading San Francisco's major newspaper. Which brings me back to the two columns I mentioned above, the first of which is almost four years old but still a completely relevant and important read for someone who has no experience around committed gay couples. If you haven't already, click the links above and read the commentaries. And here is my invitation to sample the writings of C.W. Nevius, Louis Freedberg, Jennifer J. Saunders, and Mark Morford.

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