Gay Couple Sues Conservative Group, Saying It Stole Their Kiss

By ANDY NEWMAN

On a May afternoon in Brooklyn in 2010, Thomas Privitere and Brian Edwards of Montclair, N.J., clasped hands and kissed in a park overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge. The moment was captured by a photographer they had hired, and the men liked the photo so much they used it to announce their engagement.

Last spring, a conservative group used the same photo in a political mailer in Colorado in a somewhat different context: to illustrate the evils of same-sex unions.

On Wednesday, the couple and their photographer, Kristina Hill, sued the conservative group, a nonprofit based in Virginia called Public Advocate of the United States, in federal court in Denver. They accuse Public Advocate of infringing on Ms. Hill's copyright and misappropriating the couple's likeness.

“We are heartbroken that our images may have been seen by gay and lesbian youth in Colorado and were left feeling ashamed o f their sexual orientation because of it,” Mr. Privitere, 37, said in a statement.

Public Advocate used the photo, which had been posted on the couple's blog, twice, the suit alleges. In the spring, it sent out a mailer against State Senator Jean White, a Republican who has supported civil unions for gay couples, with the couple's photo and the words “State Senator Jean White's Idea of ‘Family Values?'” written across it.

The original photo's backdrop of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan skyline was cropped out in favor of a more Coloradan-looking setting of snow-dusted pine trees. The reverse side of the mailing identifies Public Advocate as the sender and lists its address, in Falls Church, Va., the suit says.

Ms. White was defeated in a primary on June 26, and Mr. Edwards learned of the photo the next day from a friend who had seen an article in The Daily News about her opponent that included the image from the mailing, the suit says.

â €œI'm in shock and I'm angry and I'm hurt and I'm flabbergasted and I'm livid,” Mr. Edwards, 32, blogged on June 27.

Public Advocate sent a similar mailing in opposition to Jeffrey Hare, a Republican candidate for the state House of Representatives. For this mailing, the couple appeared to be performing their kiss in an open field against a cloud-dotted sky. “Jeffrey Hare's vision for Weld County?” read the copy. Mr. Hare, too, was defeated in the primary.

Mr. Edwards, a college administrator, and Mr. Privitere, a ticket broker, have lived together since 2002 and married in Connecticut in 2010.

The suit (see complaint below), filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which advocates for gay rights, among other things, seeks unspecified damages. It says that Public Advocate never sought Ms. Hill's permission to use the picture. “The defendant used the photograph instead of licensing one from a stock photo house because it did not wish to pay the cust omary price,” the suit states.

Public Advocate's president, Eugene Delgaudio, did not respond to a phone message and an e-mail seeking comment.

Anti Gay Marriage Ad Lawsuit (PDF)

Anti Gay Marriage Ad Lawsuit (Text)