Company refuses to print Alabama university’s LGBTQ-inclusive student magazine

An Alabama printing company has refused to print the latest issue of a state university’s LGBTQ-inclusive student magazine, citing its Christian principles.

Local business Interstate Printing has been printing Due South, a student publication at the University of South Alabama, since 2012, but Editor-in-Chief Sara Boone told NBC News that when she sent the company her staff’s diversity-themed edition, it declined to print it.

“After reviewing the subject matter of the 2019 Fall edition of Due South, we must respectfully decline to print this issue of the publication,” Interstate Printing spokeswoman Tracey Smith wrote in an email to Boone, NBC News reported. “As the magazine expresses freedom of lifestyles, we must express our freedom by declining to print on the principle that we are a Christian company that does not adhere to the content.”

The most recent issue featured topics including body positivity, religion, disability and LGBTQ issues.

“This is more than having personal beliefs,” Boone told NBC News. “This is actively discriminating against a group of people and trying to silence their stories.”

On its website, Interstate Printing describes itself as a “Christian company that will serve the Lord God Almighty in any way we can,” but it does not say that it will refuse to print certain content.

Boone said she replied to the company’s email to “let them know that I wished that would have been something they disclosed on their website and that we would be using a different printing company in the future,” the outlet noted.

In a statement to NBC News, the University of South Alabama’s communications director, Bob Lowery, said the school is “committed to the principles of freedom of expression and the exchange of different points of view” but added that “we also respect the rights of individuals and private businesses to make decisions that are consistent with their values.”

“We respect our students for having the courage of their convictions,” he said, adding that he hopes the incident will spur “constructive dialogue” among people with “differing perspectives,” he told NBC News.

Interstate Printing did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.