Jackson Free Press

A few weeks ago, Jim Cegelski, editor of the Laurel Leader-Call, made the decision to run a story covered by Kathy Bush, a University of Southern Mississippi student and an intern at the paper, about two women tying the knot in the conservative, small town of Laurel. It was the first gay "marriage" to take place in Jones County.

The front page story, headlined "Historic Wedding," triggered a firestorm of hate calls, letters, emails and Facebook posts by outraged Jones County residents.

"Most of the complaints seem to revolve around the headline—'Historic Wedding'—and the fact that we chose to put the story on the front page," Celgelski told the Jackson Free Press.

Fed up with the criticism, Cegelski wrote an editorial to set the record straight.

"My answer to the 'Historic Wedding' headline is pretty simple. You don't have to like something for it to be historic," he wrote. "The Holocaust, the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the Black Sox scandal are all historic. I'm in no way comparing the downtown wedding of two females to any of those events (even though some of you made it quite clear that you think gay marriage is much worse). I'm just saying that whether you liked the story or not, the first gay wedding to take place in Jones County is still historic."

Battling with stage 4 brain cancer, Crystal Craven decided to propose to Jesse Powell. "She's good to me and she's been there for me," Craven told the Leader-Call. "... If chemo doesn't work, we don't know what happens after that."

"The story is more than just two women getting married," Celgelski said. "It's a story of human interest; it's a story that will tug at your heart--any human heart."

Celgelski said that publishing the story reflected pure journalistic principles. "The job of a community newspaper is not pretending something didn't take place or ignoring it because it will upset people. No, our job is to inform readers what is going on in our town and let them make their own judgments. That is exactly what we did with the wedding story."

Although the Leader-Call received backlash from many residents, Celgelski said that others approve of the decision. "A couple of people have stopped by and called to give their support," he said. "I believe a lot more people are in support of us, but they choose to remain quiet on the issue because of the mega-attention."

Asked if he thought the story had tarnished their reputation in Jones County, Celgelski replied: "Most of the residents in Jones County are conservative, and we are a conservative newspaper, but I believe that this story has actually helped us. We have received a lot of attention and commendations from people and journalists all over."

Celgelski's defense of his journalistic principles has garnered attention and admiration from all over the world. "We've received calls from Australia, Europe, and Japan, and nationwide newspapers about the story," he said.

As for Kathy Bush, who reported the story, Celgelski says: "She's part-time right now because she's a fulltime student, but come May she will be a fulltime staff member. She has done an outstanding job."