The impact of a single photo – an apology for erasure

Published 1:30 am Friday, July 3, 2026

I, the editor of the Journal of the San Juans, decided to run a photo of two straight heterosexual men as the front-page image for a Pride story written by Kristina Stucki on June 24.

While no malice was intended, it was very much a serious oversight on my part, and I would like to offer my sincere apologies.

As a result of my actions, friends, neighbors and people who live and work here were harmed. Allowing the photo to run on the front page was a form of erasure and a failure to acknowledge the presence of a vulnerable group. Globally and nationally, the 2SLGBTQ+ community is threatened daily physically, verbally, and emotionally. Laws against their very existence are passed continually, not to mention laws that make it more difficult to access care or outright ban their health care. Tennessee and Florida are only two of several states that monitor what they wear, and where and when they wear it, using the stigma that drag queens are grooming children.

Those of us who are not members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community may believe it is safe here. On Saturday, June 27, The Rock was painted with the words “We Shine Together” as part of Pride Month. The painting did not even last a week. At first, it was a flag, then came swastikas and other graffiti. A few years ago, The Rock was painted for Pride Month and in support of the Pride Festival. Within 24 hours, it was vandalized with homophobic texts and phallic symbols. The perpetrators were not caught.

Those instances, coupled with the number of people who have commented to me, after my error, “that it was just a picture,” illustrate the validity of statements made by members and allies of the 2SLGBTQ+ community calling out my mistake that work is needed here at home.

For me, that work begins with this apology.

There are a couple of other issues I’d like to address. One, it took me far too long for me to make this statement. I should have reached out to the organizers and others who were harmed immediately. I did not, and for that I am sorry.

Although Kristina wrote a beautiful editorial apologizing, titled “Pride and shame, our apologies,” the words came from her, not me, the editor and person responsible. I would like to apologize for impacting her beautiful story about Pride, and to my co-workers, whose valuable work has also been marred by this.

As we move forward, I do commit to listening harder to our vulnerable populations, platforming them as they wish to be platformed and striving always to do better.