Arkansas paper omits surviving same-sex spouse, says they don’t list pets either

Why do homophobes insist on comparing us to animals? It often reminds me of the things white people used to say and think about black people. If you read ‘The Help’ – or grew up in my house with a father who gathered us in a back room to cower and pray when negroes were rioting a thousand miles away – you’ll see what I mean: ideas that black people were unclean, diseased, needed their own bathrooms for the safety of white folk, and, of course, fucked like animals. From Queerty: When it became clear that John Christopher Millican would not recover, his partner of 10 years, Terrance James, was the only person at his side. Alone, he made the difficult decision to end the life support. Mr. Millican passed away on June 11th of this year. Wrought with grief, Mr. James filled out the paperwork for his late partner’s obituary for the local publication, the Batesville Guard. When the obituary ran, however, it listed the names of Millican’s deceased parents, his siblings, with whom he had little contact, but no mention of Terrance James or even that there was a surviving partner. We called the Batesville Guard and spoke to Pat Jones, the general manager. She quickly became defensive and told us that we could call her son Oscar, who is a lawyer. She had obviously been through this phone call several times already. When questioned, Pat told Queerty “It’s not a gay thing. We don’t list unmarried couples, in-laws, or pets in the free obituaries.”
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