San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride wrote a letter to the Gay & Lesbian Times about the San Diego Reader’s illegal practice of rejecting ads from GLBT groups seeking to gain visibility for their events and activities.

Pride noted that last summer, in preparing for Pride’s 30th anniversary celebration, Pride attempted to place a paid ad highlighting k.d. lang’s appearance at the Starlight Bowl. The Reader refused the ad because the concert tied into Pride weekend, which, the paper explained, doesn’t correspond to the religious beliefs of the publisher, Jim Holman.

Pride also noted that its press releases containing news about other guest entertainers and past Pride celebrations have never gained coverage on the editorial pages other than an underplayed calendar listing.

Pride suggested GLBT marketers and publicists within the arts and business communities take a closer look at the Reader’s unfair publishing practices before supporting it.

Unfortunately, the Reader has been around San Diego for decades. And, despite its widely-known ad practices – not allowing personal ads from gays and lesbians, or allowing abortion-related services – neither the paper nor its advertisers have ever faced a real boycott from this or other communities. I’m not suggesting one now. The First Amendment prohibits a court from ordering the Reader to print stories about the GLBT community.

Rather, I’m simply saying that the Reader, like any other business in the city, should comply with our local civil rights law. It prohibits a business, such as the Reader, from engaging in bias based upon the sexual orientation of the advertisers.

The Supreme Court has held that the ad pages are commercial and local civil rights laws trump the First Amendment. Obviously, newspapers, despite the religious views of the publishers, cannot reject ads because they feature events by African-Americans, Muslims, Christians, women or other persons in protected groups.

Even if religious views did play a role in ad practices, one would question whether the Reader is consistent in its practices. For example, the Reader features ads from lawyers offering divorce services, but the Bible forbids divorce, certainly for “irreconcilable differences.” In fact, in Holman’s other paper, San Diego News Notes, one lawyer advertises that he only will accept divorce cases involving abandonment or neglect.

The Reader allows men and women to place free ads so that they can live together as roommates. The Bible condemns cohabitation and fornication. The paper features lots of ads for dating services and personal ads, but the paper doesn’t prohibit married persons from using those services. Isn’t adultery punishable by death, according to the Bible? There are ads for businesses that open on Sundays – the Sabbath? There are ads for tattoos and cosmetic medical procedures. Doesn’t the Bible warn against changing one’s God-given image?

According to the Bible, the closest place to heaven that Holman will see is his home in Coronado.

At a recent San Diego Democratic Club meeting, City Attorney Mike Aguirre indicated that he was going to investigate the Reader’s ad practices in light of these complaints. Aguirre will find that the paper cannot reject ads because of the sexual orientation of the advertisers.

Some years ago the Christian Yellow Pages rejected ads from a Jewish business group. The California Court of Appeal upheld an order finding that Yellow Pages was a business – not a religious society. Like any business that does business with the public, it cannot deny a service because of the religion of the advertisers.

Because the Reader violates local and state law, Aguirre must direct all city agencies doing business with the paper to stop advertising. This includes the school board and the community colleges, which frequently place ads in the Reader. The city of San Diego cannot enter into contracts with businesses that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, among other things.

Further, on behalf of Pride, Aguirre needs to bring an action against the Reader for violating the civil rights of Pride and all other advertisers who have been denied access to advertising services based upon their gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.

Aguirre, one of the best trial lawyers in America, should be able to obtain a jury verdict for compensatory and punitive damages in the millions. A court will also issue an order prohibiting the Reader from rejecting future ads.