New Hampshire newspaper rejects gay wedding announcement

Gay marriage is legal in New Hampshire, but that didn't stop the executives of the state's largest newspaper from rejecting a wedding announcement from a same-sex couple.

Manchester Union Ledger Publisher Joe McQuaid told CNN in a statement that the conservative newspaper has never published a gay wedding announcement but is not "anti-gay."

"It would be hypocritical of us to do so, given our belief that marriage is and needs to remain a social and civil structure between men and women and our opposition to the recent state law legalizing gay marriage," he said.

New Hampshire residents Greg Gould and Aurelio Tine wanted the paper to print the announcement for their upcoming wedding in Portsmouth.

"I was really disappointed, because the Union Leader is a big voice in the state of New Hampshire, and they seem to be so out of touch," Gould told WMUR-TV.

"When you publish a wedding announcement, it's not as if the newspaper sanctions it — it's just news,'' Gould told the AP. "If they didn't want to report on all the things they didn't like, then they wouldn't report on murder and war and government.''

Democratic U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes, who is locked in a tough Senate election battle against Republican Kelly Ayotte, called the publisher's decision "reprehensible" in an open letter to McQuaid.

"The Union Leader's disgraceful policy of exclusion harkens to a different time in this country when people were denied opportunity because of their race, religion and ethnic origin," Hodes wrote. New Hampshire is one of five states that allow same-sex marriage.

In July, the "Today" show ended its rule barring gay weddings for its "Modern Wedding Contest" segment.

(Photo: Getty.)