A week after the New Jersey Jewish Standard's Sept. 24 publication of a wedding announcement for a gay couple, the Teaneck-based weekly apologized and promised it wouldn't happen again.
Now it apologizes for its apology.
The paper's original action was taken in response to outrage expressed by some local Orthodox rabbis. Online reaction to the apology prompted the retraction.
On Oct. 4, a Standard editorial said the paper did not expect the "firestorm" caused by the announcement. It said subsequent discussion with the rabbis "made us aware that publication of the announcement caused pain and consternation, and we apologize for any pain we may have caused." The editorial went on to say that because the paper works to units rather than divide the community's "many segments," it decided "since this is such a divisive issue, not to run such announcements in the future."
In a statement appearing in this week's issue, Publisher James Janoff wrote, "we believe now that we may have acted too quickly in issuing the follow-up statement, responding only to one segment of the community."
Janoff said his paper will publish letters accressing the controversy, but gave no definite answer as to whether the Standard will publish other gay wedding announcements.
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