Grocery Store Censors Gay Parenting

We've all seen some wild stories on the cover of US Weekly before, but a photo of Elton John and his partner and with their new son does not strike me as one of them. But then again, I'm not homophobic, and I'm not a manager at Harps Food Store, a chain in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. A Harps shopper in Arkansas snapped this picture of the celeb weekly covered by a "protective family shield."

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I was completely shocked, especially since the last census showed a rise in gay parents in the South. So I called the store to see if it was a corporate decision to put up the shield, a call made by the store manager, or a prank by a rogue customer grabbing it from the front of a legitimately-racy mag. The woman I spoke with said "no comment" and put me through with someone who never called me back.

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Do you think younger shoppers need to be protected from images of gay families? Or are you as outraged as we are? 

Update: Jennhudd, the woman who tweeted the pic, recently tweeted "Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who helped in the effort to get the "family shields" taken down at Harps! #victory 

So I guess Harps got schooled! Call their home office at 877-772-8193 if you'd like to offer your comments. 

[Update: The original article stated that the baby is adopted; however little Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John is the biological son of Elton John and was born via a surrogate.]