Columnist Seeks to Bridge Gay-Straight Gap

Outbursts of hatred and outpourings of gratitude have been among the responses to a new national gay columnist and her stories about gay and lesbian concerns.

“To have a gay person talking about gay life is an incredible thing,” said Deb Price, Washington news editor for the Detroit News.

Price, 34, isn’t the first gay columnist or the first columnist to write about a gay issue, but she is believed to be the first gay columnist to write regularly about gay issues for daily, mainstream metropolitan newspapers.

Price began her column May 8 for the News and for distribution to 80 other Gannett newspapers nationwide. About a dozen from Niagara Falls, N.Y., to El Paso, Tex., have run it, and it has appeared twice in USA Today, Gannett’s national newspaper.

In August, it became available to other papers through the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. Price tacks a little flag on a U.S. map in cities where newspapers have run her column, which she says isn’t just for lesbians and gay men.

“What I really hope to do is get straight people and gay people talking, bridging a gap that’s existed forever,” she said. “And I think that’s what’s happened.”

A parent and a sibling wrote that they want to pass on her column to gay relatives who need some direction and support. Another woman just wanted to share that her lesbian boss has been her best boss ever.

As expected, not all readers are pleased to see the column when they pick up The Detroit News every Friday.

Michigan state Rep. Dave Jaye, a conservative Republican from Utica, wrote to the News: “Competition from electronic media is causing some newspapers to degenerate into titillating tabloids. A weekly homosexual column is one symptom of this decline. Will bondage columns be next?”

Price was surprised by some of the mail.

“You’re just astounded that people would write such hatred and sign their name and leave their address and telephone number,” Price said. “I keep telling myself, ‘I’m a symbol, nobody knows me, it’s not personal, try not to take it personally.’ ”

Bob Giles, editor and publisher of the News, said most of the feedback has been negative. But the paper also has seen a steady stream of positive notes from relatives of gay people and ministers counseling confused teen-agers.

“We knew it would be controversial,” Giles said. “But the nature of controversy has simply reinforced my belief that a column of this kind has a very appropriate place in this newspaper.”

The News and Gannett haven’t put any restrictions on what she writes, Price said. As a news editor, she stops short of making political endorsements while still trying to be informative on political issues.

There are personal notes as well--Price frequently mentions her companion of seven years, Joyce Murdoch, an editor for The Washington Post.

Price believes risks like hers must be taken by gay people.

“If people want their company to offer employment benefits for domestic partners of gay employees, somebody’s got to ask,” she said. “That’s a gay person’s responsibility, that’s not a straight person’s responsibility.

She believes similar columns will follow in other papers. She said her narrow life--that of an educated, white, female journalist living with the same in a relatively progressive city--can’t possibly tell the whole story for gays.

“Things change when a black person moves into a neighborhood, things change when a Jewish person is allowed in a country club, and things change when an openly gay person is allowed to stay in the military,” she said.

“In other words, things change when people are allowed to be themselves and other people know who they are.”