the editor. “And they changed back,” she says. Molly
Kenzie also wonders why the paper could be flexible
about the obits but not the birth announcements.
Simmons and Martinez-
Padilla moved to Oregon
because they didn’t want
to start an adopted
child’s life with a lie.
Although activists have noted that other papers in
Oregon publish the names of both same-sex parents in
birth announcements, the R-G’s service is free; some
other papers charge for announcements. The
Oregonian publishes birth announcements in a
16 DECEMBER 21, 2006
November 2005: Molly and Kari Kenzie
proudly announce the birth of their son Owen
“Celebrations” section twice a month. Same-sex and
opposite sex couples and single parents can pay for and
get their names in those birth announcements, and the
paper publishes announcements of adoptions as well,
says Frank Brown, who works in the paper’s Paid
Announcements division. The Oregonian’s birth
announcement form has a line for “Parents’ names,”
but does tilt toward opposite-sex couples in asking for
maternal and paternal grandparents’ names. In Salem,
The Statesman-Journal also publishes a list of births
along with graduations, engagements, anniversaries,
birthdays, retirements and promotions, among other
landmark occasions, in a “Milestones” section on
Sundays. Perhaps something as simple as changing
what the section is called would help, activists say.
“A number of people have made suggestions that
[the R-G] change the heading from birth announce-
ments to something more general like Family News or
Family Developments,” Simmons says.
Sharon Flynn is ready to keep fighting. Holding
Hailey up to wave bye, she says, “Every year near
Hailey’s birthday, until the policy changes, we’ll be out
there.”
ew