Dear "Today Show," your anti-gay contest is quite likely illegal

UPDATE: Today Show's email. You know what to do. today@nbc.com

NBC's Today Show is offering a wedding contest where the lucky winners get a wedding and honeymoon thrown by the Today Show. Great! Except that the rules explicitly ban gay couples from winning.

Check out what the contest rules say:


(Gee. Wonder how NBC feels about inter-racial couples?)

First, uh, bigot much? The marriage of gays is legal in Massachusetts, so where does the Today Show get off banning gay couples?

Second, uh, lawsuit much? I researched a similar issue extensively a few years back - remember Sandals resorts that used to ban gay couples, well a number of US companies were offering contests where the prizes were a trip to Sandals, but the contests banned gay couples. I talked to the ACLU and other lawyers at the time who said that those contests could very well violate public accomodations laws covering sexual orientation in any jurisdictions in America, state and local, where such laws include gays. And in lots of jurisdictions, they do.

So, Today Show, guess what? You may be about to get your asses sued for violating state and local civil rights laws.

Suddenly, the whole Cojo firing is starting to look a lot more interesting...