Rachel Gordon is the San Francisco Chronicle reporter who found herself at the center of "the story" itself when she was taken off the gay marriage beat following her own City Hall wedding to longtime partner, Chronicle photographer Liz Mangelsdorf on March 9, 2004. Some said that taking Gordon and Mangelsdorf off the story was akin to telling a black writer she couldn't write about black issues. Others, such as Chronicle editors, said the decision more closely compared with being black, marching down Market Street in protest, and then being taken off the story of civil rights demonstrations. Steven Petrow, president of the National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association, was quick to point out that married heterosexual journalists were not removed from the story in spite of the fact that anti-gay marriage initiatives are couched as "defense of marriage" acts. Only the self-interest of these gay journalists was deemed by the editors as having the potential for a percieved conflict. Supervisors Bevan Dufty and Tom Ammiano organized a rally in support of Gordon and Mangelsdorf. Whatever are the reader's political views on gay marriage and real or imagined journalistic bias, the discussion was elevated by the fact that observers and those personally involved on all sides of the issue agreed that Gordon and Mangelsdorf are consummate professionals and journalists of impeccable skill and ethics.

Heart of the City 03/25/03
Heart of the City 03/23/04