Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Mass. Demonstration: If you ever meet a copy editor whose job at a newspaper is to write headlines, you're in for a treat -- so long as you consider unbearable puns as treats. I've always thought that they have one of the most fun jobs in journalism, dreaming up witty headlines. (I envy the movie reviewers, too. I sit in dreadful committee meetings all day while they get paid to go to movies and make fun of them.)

The New York Times was definitely going for the double entendre with this headline for an AP article: Gay Marriage Ban Is Rejected in Mass.

Puns only work if they ring true. And in this case, the Massachusetts Legislature really did reject a homophobic amendment en mass: 157 to 39.

Republicans claim that they don't want "activist judges" making decisions about gay marriage, that it should be left up to the state legislatures. Well, here's one legislature that made the right decision, and made sure everyone knew.

Update: Apparently some NYT editor with no sense of humor changed it to the dry, "Mass. Lawmakers Reject Gay Marriage Ban".