XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities, nj.politics, alt.politics.homosexuality   
   XPost: alt.atheism   
   From: noone@nowhere.com   
      
   DENVER — A New Jersey gay couple whose engagement photo was used   
   in a Colorado campaign attack mailer said Wednesday the image   
   that once represented their commitment now makes them cringe.   
      
   The couple filed a lawsuit in Denver federal court against the   
   group that used the photo without their permission and put it on   
   mailers against a Colorado Republican state lawmaker who   
   supported a failed civil unions bill.   
      
   The photo of Brian Edwards, 32, and Tom Privitere, 37, holding   
   hands and kissing with a New York City skyline as a backdrop was   
   on display in front of the courthouse. Edwards said they are   
   suing to “take back the beautiful image in our lives that was   
   reflected in our engagement photo.”   
      
   The Southern Poverty Law Center filed the lawsuit on behalf of   
   the couple Wednesday against Virginia-based Public Advocate of   
   the United States.   
      
   “At one time, it made us happy to look at this photo and see all   
   it represented — love, home, excitement for our upcoming   
   marriage,” Edwards said.   
      
   Christine P. Sun, SPLC deputy legal director, said they don’t   
   know how Public Advocate obtained the photo or why they picked   
   it. It was posted on Edwards’ personal blog.   
      
   The couple said they found out their photo had been used when a   
   friend told them about a story mentioning it in the New York   
   Daily News.   
      
   Sun said they’re suing for monetary damages to be determined at   
   trial, misappropriation of the couple’s image and copyright   
   violation. The photographer who took the photo is also a   
   plaintiff in the case.   
      
   “They were devastated by the idea that a young person in   
   Colorado could receive this mailer and feel ashamed about his or   
   her sexual orientation,” Sun said.   
      
   Public Advocate has not commented on the lawsuit through three   
   email requests, including on Wednesday morning. Group president   
   Eugene Delgaudio responded in a brief email Wednesday saying, “I   
   got your note about the story about the report. I am looking   
   into this.”   
      
   The photo was used in mailers in a June primary election   
   involving Sen. Jean White, one of a handful of Republicans who   
   supported a civil unions bill that was blocked in the state   
   House. The mailer, which replaced the Manhattan skyline with a   
   snowy background, read: “State Senator Jean White’s Idea of   
   ‘Family Values?’”   
      
   White lost the primary against a fellow Republican in a   
   northwestern Colorado district. She said she was disgusted the   
   couple’s personal photo was used in an attack that she believes   
   ultimately swayed the race.   
      
   “And to say, ‘my idea of family values?’ Well, I tell you, I   
   value all families,” said White, who was present with the   
   Edwards and Privitere outside court.   
      
   Public Advocate also used the couple’s photo in a mailer that   
   for another northern Colorado state legislative race. That race   
   involved a Republican candidate who was not in the Legislature   
   when civil unions were considered.   
      
   The mailer, which changed the New York background to Colorado   
   plains, had the caption: “Jeffrey Hare’s vision for Weld   
   County?” Hare also lost his primary.   
      
   Edwards said the use of photo brought back childhood memories of   
   being bullied.   
      
   “Tom and I both cringe now when we look at our engagement photo,   
   a photo which will forever live on the internet as a message of   
   hate,” he said.   
      
   http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/nj-gay-couple-suing-over-   
   engagement-photo-in-colo-political-mailer-holding-news-   
   conference/2012/09/26/5a59c726-07dc-11e2-9eea-   
   333857f6a7bd_story.html?tid=obinsite   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)