Editorial Page Editor: 'Anti-Gay Marriage Op-ed Ban Was More Of A Reminder For People To 'Play Nice'

By Dom Giordano

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Jon Micek, Editorial Page Editor for PennLive spoke with Talk Radio 1210 WPHT midday host Dom Giordano about the paper's decision to not publish op-eds that are against the Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage.

"What our attempt was and I think that we all can agree on this, was try and create a space for civil and reasonable discussion recognizing that people of faith and of good conscious will disagree on this very important issue and to try create a bright line between that kind of constructive dialogue and just sort of gutter talk and invective."

While Micek feels that he "might have been a little too quick on the trigger" or did not phrase his tweets as "clearly" as he would have liked, outrage over the ban grew quickly regardless.

"We found ourselves in fairly short order being accused of trampling on the first amendment, of being Nazis and being fascists, when in fact that was the furthest thing from my mind. I've been a journalist for more than 20 years and treasure the first amendment and the freedoms that it confers upon us, but as the editor of an opinion page I also have the responsibility I think to try to foster a constructive and civil dialogue and that's really all that was ever driving this bus."

As just about anybody that has scrolled through the comment section of any website can attest, that regardless of content comment forums can be less than civil on a normal day, let alone when there's a controversial Supreme Court ruling and that is all Micek wanted to maintain by reminding people to "play nice." He wanted people to have reasonable debates without "sort of descending into name calling or invective."

"We wouldn't published invective on Thursday any more than we would have on Friday or any more than we would have today. What again was really hoping for was just a reminder for everybody within the space for this very important subject to just be civil and decent to each other."