Spencer Jones and Tyler Barrick were married at San Francisco City Hall on June 17, 2008.  The couple rushed to get married on the first day California gay couples were legally allowed to do so – and were lucky enough to have their marriage upheld by the California Supreme Court post Proposition 8.

Jones and Barrick planned to return to their hometown in Southern Utah on August 22, 2009 to have their formal wedding reception with their family and friends.

Like any other happy couple, they planned to announce their reception in their local paper – both to celebrate their happiness and to make sure all their friends knew where to celebrate with them.

But, their hometown paper, The Spectrum, in St. George, Utah rejected their ad.

At first, the paper said they could run the announcement in the “celebrations” section of the paper – but only if there was no picture.

Jones and Barrick objected to being told their picture would be excluded, and in response president and publisher Donnie Welch decided that no announcement would run at all.  He told the couple, “As our policy is to run marriage announcements recognized by Utah Law, I have made the decision to not run this announcement.”

When Jones and Barrick were first married in June 2008, they received widespread media coverage, from People Magazine to the Bay Area Reporter.  They also were mentioned and pictured by USA Today – which, like The Spectrum, is owned by Gannett.  Tyler’s mom created a video that shows all the media coverage.

GLAAD encourages you - particularly those who live in Utah - to reach out to The Spectrum's Donnie Welch, and urge him to publish Spender and Tyler's announcement.

Contact:

Donnie Welch

President/Publisher, The Spectrum

435-674-6222

dwelch@thespectrum.com

Jones has also contacted the National Center for Lesbian Rights, a national LGBT legal organization, to alert them to this incident. Executive Director Kate Kendell made a statement that "NCLR is very disturbed and disappointed to hear about the treatment that Spencer and Tyler experienced. No family or couple should be made to feel like their relationship is somehow of a lesser status simply because of their sexual orientation." Both GLAAD and NCLR will continue to keep a close eye on the situation as it develops.

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