Gay Couple Eyes Lawsuit After Finding Their Pic on ‘Hate Group’ Mailer
Brian Edwards and Tom Privitere, a New Jersey couple married in 2010, were horrified when a photo of them kissing at their engagement party was altered and turned up in an anti-gay unions mailer 2,000 miles away.
The playful photo had been posted on Edwards’ personal blog and was originally set against the backdrop of the New York City skyline.
But the doctored photo showed the gay couple standing in a snowy Colorado setting and was used in a political campaign to attack a Republican who supported civil union legislation.
The tagline for the ad, which was sponsored by Public Advocate of the United States, was: “State Sen. Jean White’s Idea of ‘Family Values?’” White later lost the primary.
Now, with the help of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the couple and photographer Kristina Hill are threatening to sue the organization behind the ad and its president, Eugene Delgaudio, if they do not stop using the photo.
“Our initial reaction was complete shock,” said Privitere, 37, who works in entertainment ticketing and lives with Edwards in Montclair, N.J. The couple has been together for 12 years.
“We were heartbroken to see that our picture that was taken to represent love and family, and our values, and to share with other LGBT couples, was used for complete opposite purposes to induce fear and spread hate and bigotry,” he said.
Public Advocate, based in Falls Church, Va., is on the SPLC’s 2011 hate group list. It never had permission to use the photo, according to Hill, who runs her own wedding photography business.