Texas Gay Couple Legally Married Via Skype In Washington, D.C. File Discrimination Complaint Against Dallas Morning News; Paper Refused To Publish Wedding Announcement Arguing Same Sex Marriage Illegal In State

Fox-26 reports that Mark Reed and his partner of 11 years, Dante Walkup, have filed a discrimination complaint against the Dallas Morning News. When Reed and Walkup legally married in Washington, D.C. they hoped to share the news of their commitment with their community back in Dallas, but were denied when they tried to buy an announcement in the weddings section of the paper. Since Texas state law bans same sex marriage, the newspaper refused to publish the ad. "I feel like a second-class citizen," Walkup said. Reed and Walkup have filed a complaint against the Morning News with the City of Dallas under an ordinance that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, maintaining that wedding announcements are a public accommodation. However, the CEO and publisher of the paper, Jim Moroney, said that “If the State of Texas were to change its laws regarding same sex marriage, I promise we will take up the issue and reconsider it. Though there are papers in different states that do announce gay weddings, we are not the exception." Councilwoman Angela Hunt said that since the anti-gay discrimination ordinance was passed nine years ago, a total of 53 complaints have been filed. But not one complaint has ever gone to court. "We've requested our city attorney investigate each and every one of those complaints," Hunt said. Legal experts suggest the Dallas Morning News is a private entity able to determine not to run same sex wedding announcements, since sexual orientation is not a protected class, therefore the couple's complaint will likely lead nowhere. Regardless, the couple, which owns a multi-million-dollar lighting company, hopes they can draw attention to what they consider unfair treatment. "It's the only way change happens. Change happens because you make people aware that we're no different than anybody else," Walkup said. The organization change.org has now launched a petition calling on the Dallas Morning News to publish same-sex wedding announcements, and to date, more than 9,000 signatures have been gathered.