UPDATE: Thanks to some attention, the problem has been fixed.

A bad word?

Text message someone an article with the word “gay” in the title from the New York Times‘ mobile website, and they may be a bit confused as to what you’re sending them.

That’s because the service replaces every instance of “gay” in a headline with the word “beep”.

My friend Al sent a message to me on New Years Eve containing a link to Frank Rich’s recent column about Rick Warren, and it arrived with the headline “You’re Likable Enough, ‘beep’ People.”

Subsequent attempts using different articles turned up the same results. Click image, as it appeared on my iPhone above, to enlarge. Now while I wouldn’t be surprised if Rick Warren thought of me as a “beep” person, I’d expect better from the New York Times. I would demand that they change it. I’ve sent a feedback email to the paper. Will let you know what I hear.