A marriage bias? San Francisco news outlets sideline gay reporters who choose to get married.

Same-sex marriage became an ethical challenge for a Northern California newspaper and a radio station in March, when editors had to decide if gay and lesbian staff members could cover the developing marriage story if they themselves got married.

Phil Bronstein, executive editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, sparked a national debate when he issued a memo on March 15 stating that city government reporter Rachel Gordon and photographer Liz Mangelsdorf had been taken off the same-sex marriage story after they were married at City Hall. The reason, Bronstein argued, was that their marriage was more political statement than personal fight. "Chronicle journalists directly and personally involved in a major news story--one in whose outcome they also have a personal stake--should not also cover that story," Bronstein wrote.

Many journalists and ethicists were alarmed by Bronstein's position. "If [their marriage is] legal, even if it's dubiously legal at the time you file for that license, I don't see it as civil disobedience," said Kelly McBride, who teaches ethics at the Poynter Institute, a prominent journalism school in Florida. She argued that applying for a marriage license wasn't political enough to undermine journalistic objectivity. "It's more analogous to registering to vote," she said.

But Steven Petrow, president of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, said the issue is not that clear. "Even within our own organization there is tremendous disagreement about the Chronicle decision," he said. "Individuals who see [same-sex] marriage as a political act think that Rachel and Liz became too involved in their story, Those reporters who see it as cultural don't."

Unlike the Chronicle, San Francisco public radio station KQED immediately disclosed what was happening when reporter Scott Shafer told listeners about his San Francisco marriage to his partner. He agreed with his news staff that he would no longer cover the story directly. "I'm comfortable where we ended up," Shafer said. "I think reasonable people can disagree. It's not black or white."

The debate came several weeks after The New York Times dismissed freelance writer--and Advocate contributor--Jay Blotcher because he once worked for ACT UP and the American Foundation for AIDS Research. ACT UP founder Larry Kramer accused the paper of having a double standard that unfairly targets gay journalists, but Times executive editor Bill Keller said the move was an attempt to maintain objectivity after 2003's scandal over Jayson Blair, a Times reporter fired for fabricating stories.