When openly gay Jacksonville, Ill., Alderman Scott Tinsley-Hall and his husband Joel submitted their wedding announcement to the local newspaper, they didn't know how people in their conservative town would react—or if the Jacksonville Journal Courier would even publish it.
But the couple, who wed in Iowa July 1, decided it was important to them to announce their marriage to the community where they live and work.
"Every Sunday I open the paper and see all these wedding pictures, and it is kind of important to me, and I thought it was time to make that statement," Tinsley-Hall said. "So we wrote up our announcement and submitted it per the instructions, and we were kind of anticipating a phone call from the paper, but nothing happened."
The Tinsley-Hall's wedding announcement and a photo of the grooms appeared in the Jacksonville Journal Courier Aug. 16, and readers quickly began posting reactions to the newspaper's Web site. Comments ranged from warm congratulations to outright condemnation.
Several readers criticized the paper's decision to run the wedding announcement.
"This newspaper has sunk to a terrible low when they cram this trash of these two men getting married down the throats of people. That's a sick thing to look at when you're trying to read the paper. You need to be more sensible what you put in your paper," one reader posted in a comment on the Web site.
Another reader called the Tinsley-Hall's wedding photo "porn" and wrote that the newspaper staff "should be ashamed."
Jacksonville Journal Courier Society Section Editor Pam Olson said this was the first same-sex wedding announcement the paper has published. She said the decision to run the announcement was based on the fact that the union was legal because it took place in Iowa.
Olson said she and her colleagues weren't surprised to get reactions from readers, but that they didn't receive quite as many comments as they anticipated.
"I think we got probably fewer [ responses ] than we were expected," Olson told Windy City Times. "But, of course, the people who are critical are the most vocal."
Despite some negative commentary about their marriage on the newspaper's Web site, Tinsley-Hall said he and Joel have felt welcome in Jacksonville since they moved there from Seattle four years ago.
In addition to his duties as alderman for Jacksonville's first ward, Tinsley-Hall works full time as the budget director for Passavant Area Hospital. Joel is a musician and performs at many area churches. Both men are active in the Congregational United Church of Christ.
"Both my partner and I are very involved in the community, so our names got known pretty quickly when we moved here, and not only because we're the interracial gay couple," Tinsley-Hall said.
Several members of their church travelled to Iowa with the Tinsley-Halls for their wedding. Their pastor, the Rev. Jan Johnson, accompanied them to perform the ceremony. Johnson said she has presided over same-sex commitment ceremonies, but this was her first time performing a legal gay marriage.
"Scott and Joel are so much in love, more in love than most of the straight couples I marry, and that is because they have been denied, they have been told, 'You can't have this,'" Johnson said.
The Tinsley-Halls have been together for four years. They plan to renew their vows at an Oct. 3 ceremony with family and friends in Jacksonville.
"You do feel different. If someone had asked before ( we were married ) , I would have said it is just a formality," Tinsley Hall said. "But, it's a new feeling and it is kind of unexplainable."
