Navy photo shows antigay slur on bomb

SUMMARY: The Associated Press Friday killed a news photograph that showed misspelled antigay graffiti on an airborne bomb bound for Afghanistan (news - web sites).

After complaints from gay organizations, the Associated Press today withdrew a news photograph that showed misspelled graffiti -- "high jack this fags" -- on an airborne bomb bound for Afghanistan.

The photograph, taken on the USS Enterprise, shows a Navy officer scrawling a message on a bomb attached to the wing of an attack plane. The AP, which provides news content to nearly every daily newspaper in the United States, distributed the photo on Thursday without a warning about its content.

It was not immediately clear if any newspapers chose to run the photograph, but it did appear in Yahoo.com's news section.

Late Friday afternoon, however, the AP told its clients to remove the photo from their files because it contained an "offensive slur." The AP didn't return a message requesting more information.

The move came after complaints from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination (GLAAD), a media watchdog group, and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), which represents gay members of the military.

Before the photo was withdrawn, GLAAD executive director Joan M. Garry said the AP was "irresponsible" for sending out the photo without acknowledging its offensive content.

At the SLDN, legal director Sharra E. Greer blasted the military. "The United States Navy would never allow racial epithets or derogatory graffiti based on gender or religion to be scrawled on American property," Greer said in a statement. "Messages like the one presented in this photograph only reinforce the ideas of hatred and division that our nation seeks to defend against. We must not emulate the intolerance of our enemies."

After the photo was withdrawn, GLAAD spokeswoman Cathy Renna said the photo should lead to a larger discussion. "Hiding the picture really does a disservice to the issue. It's clear that a number of people in the Navy thinks it's OK to write 'fag' on a piece of government property and drop it on a terrorist. That's something we should be talking about."

Eric Hegedus, a photo editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, said the photograph would indeed be appropriate to illustrate anti-gay bias in the military.

"Many of us in the media aren't instinctively questioning the bigotry because in so many peoples' eyes, using the word 'fag' or 'faggot' isn't a social problem or something to be otherwise examined," said Hegedus, a board member of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association.

The Inquirer didn't run the photo.