11/05/24
April 22, 2010
Bisexual Players Too Straight for Gay Softball World Series: Three bisexual men have filed a federal lawsuit against a national gay-sports organization, claiming they were unfairly deemed not gay enough to play in the 2009 Gay Softball World Series. During the championship game, play was stopped several times when one team complained that the other had more than two heterosexual players. Steven Apilado, LaRon Charles and Jon Russ claim that after the competition, they were taken before a hearing in front of 25 people and asked "highly personal and intrusive questions" to determine their sexuality, then disqualified for being "nongay." Their team was stripped of its second-place finish.
I think the bigger questions are:
1) Why is there a gay-only softball world series?
2) Why does each team get two straight players?
posted by wfrazerjr at 02:30 PM on April 22, 2010
1) If straight players are allowed, and it's a gay league, how can bisexuals not be allowed?
2) The Gay Softball World Series web site is the least gay gay-themed web site ever.
posted by kirkaracha at 02:51 PM on April 22, 2010
You didn't like the theme song with its pulsing dance beat?
posted by rcade at 03:09 PM on April 22, 2010
"Ladies and gentleman, the umpiring crew for tonight's game:
At first base, RuPaul.
At second base, Paul Lynde.
At third base, Ricky Martin.
And behind home plate, the crew chief, Tom Cruise.
Mr. Cruise is running late, but he should be coming out soon."
posted by wfrazerjr at 05:34 PM on April 22, 2010
I agree...why do gay teams get two straight players???
Given that, the rest makes no sense whatsoever.
I was going to say it was bush league, but that may not be correct.
posted by dviking at 06:28 PM on April 22, 2010
I would watch any league with Paul Lynde as an ump.
posted by yerfatma at 07:25 PM on April 22, 2010
All I can say is it must be really "hard" for them to come up with rules that will satisfy everone....
posted by wildbill1 at 07:32 PM on April 22, 2010
Now that everybody's told their gay jokes...
...one of the main reasons why gay sports leagues exist is because of straight people's homophobia, which is nowhere more apparent than in a locker room setting, where bigoted heterosexuals with irrationally inflated self-images somehow cannot imagine a gay person being able to resist touching them.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:48 PM on April 22, 2010
Now that everybody's told their gay jokes...
Everybody?
Must be the new math, six equals everybody.
posted by tommybiden at 10:05 PM on April 22, 2010
Or maybe it's straight men's inability to get past the apparently condoned image of gay-pride parades with dancing, leather-clad men spanking one another in public. I have no issue with gay men in a locker room or my locker room, but I can see why some "breeders" would. The horseshit stupidity runs in both directions.
And I still don't get the two straight guys. Isn't that the organization saying. "Well, the Gay Softball World Series isn't worth having if we don't have at least two guys who don't throw like queens?"
posted by wfrazerjr at 11:13 PM on April 22, 2010
For the record, the last softball team I played on had several gay players, anyone's sexual orientation never was an issue, and homophobia certainly never invaded the locker room.
The article states that the three men were banned for a year. Why only a year, surely they won't change their sexual orientation. Oh, I suppose they could come back as one the two allowed straight players, but like I others, I don't understand that rule either.
posted by dviking at 02:16 AM on April 23, 2010
I believe that the word homophobia is a misnomer. Phobia = fear. I don't fear gays and DO respect and accept them. What I don't condone, however, is some of them using the issue to make political hay. Don't flaunt and taunt it to me. While this doesn't follow the thread about gay athletes I feel most straight men have the same attitude. I have gay relatives both male and female. To them it isn't a political issue, just their way of life, and they don't try to foist or force me to respect and accept them, I just do.
posted by wildbill1 at 08:49 AM on April 23, 2010
To them it isn't a political issue, just their way of life, and they don't try to foist or force me to respect and accept them, I just do.
By foist, do you mean fight for equal protection under the law? Because that most definitely is a political issue.
posted by bperk at 09:06 AM on April 23, 2010
I am going to throw a theory out on the two straight player rule. My theory is that it is meant to be so that friends of the gay players could participate on the team with them. The limit was most likely imposed so that you didn't end up with a team of predominantly straight players.
My guess would be that the number being two was an arbitrary number that probably came about because at some point in the past they looked around and said "ok, Team X has the most straight players with two, lets set the limit at two".
posted by Demophon at 09:50 AM on April 23, 2010
What I don't condone, however, is some of them using the issue to make political hay. Don't flaunt and taunt it to me.
That argument seems bogus to me. Are the married people you know "flaunting" their sexuality when they talk about their kids, their dates, and so on? Do you judge them by the extreme example of married swingers -- the way gays are often judged by the extreme example of the guy marching in a gay pride parade in a leather BDSM outfit?
It's nice you think that homophobia doesn't exist, but it's completely blind to the reality that there are still a lot of people who freak out about the fact that gays exist and are more accepted in society and culture. There have been some high-profile examples in American sports of athletes who can't handle the idea there might be gays in their midst.
posted by rcade at 09:59 AM on April 23, 2010
tommytrump:
Everybody?
Must be the new math, six equals everybody.
Hey, it's not my fault that you're slow.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 10:41 AM on April 23, 2010
</derail>
posted by yerfatma at 11:04 AM on April 23, 2010
Hey, it's not my fault that you're slow.
Six of the eight comments before your original comment made references that could be construed as jokes.
Where I come from , 6 out of 8 does not equal everybody, everyone, all.
I may be slow, but I am pretty sure I am right in this situation.
posted by tommybiden at 11:48 AM on April 23, 2010
My comment (one of the six) wasn't a joke. The Gay Softball World Series has a theme song with a pulsing dance beat: link.
posted by rcade at 12:00 PM on April 23, 2010
My apologies, rcade.
So, only 5 of 8 were jokes.
According to my ciphering, that's even further away from everybody, everyone, all.
posted by tommybiden at 12:05 PM on April 23, 2010
Do you judge them by the extreme example of married swingers -- the way gays are often judged by the extreme example of the guy marching in a gay pride parade in a leather BDSM outfit?
I'm not sure married swingers hold public parades.
posted by wfrazerjr at 03:44 PM on April 23, 2010
I'm not sure married swingers hold public parades.
I'm 43 years old and I've never seen a gay pride parade nor seen one advertised where I live. Absent pictures spread on the Internet by homophobes, I wouldn't even know that some people go to them in assless chaps and other risque attire. I imagine the underdressed leather-clad gay parader is as remote to most Americans' experiences as the straights who go to swingers clubs. And yet we hear about these parading gays shoving their lifestyle down our throats.
I did once go to Disney World with my family and discovered that it was Gay Days. But contrary to what the Pat Robertsons of the world told me, I didn't see a single act of same-sex depravity. And I looked hard.
posted by rcade at 04:28 PM on April 23, 2010
And I looked hard.
I'm loving this either way, but mainly imagining a leather hat and shades.
posted by yerfatma at 04:51 PM on April 23, 2010
Rcade, as someone who went to Disney World a number of years ago and stayed with my girlfriend at the home of two park employees, every day is Gay Days for the staff there. It's referred to as "The Family" and funnily enough, the act of sneaking a friend to the front of the ride line is called backdooring. The guys thought it was a riot.
I don't care about same-sex depravity -- everyone's entitled to their own style of depravity, as long as it doesn't diminish or injure some one else. But to equate married couples discussing their kids with gay pride parades featuring this is ridiculous. Talking about little Suzy's ballet class is no way on an even keel with spanking your big gay pal on public streets.
posted by wfrazerjr at 05:38 PM on April 23, 2010
But Pride Day is fun. The parade is crazy and the party is great. And some of the people are wonderfully strange. I don't see how any of that is depraved.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 05:46 PM on April 23, 2010
Hang on.
posted by wfrazerjr at 06:41 PM on April 23, 2010
But to equate married couples discussing their kids with gay pride parades featuring this is ridiculous.
I didn't make that comparison. I compared two extremes.
Talking about little Suzy's ballet class is no way on an even keel with spanking your big gay pal on public streets.
BikeWeek in Daytona Beach has plenty of heterosexual debauchery, as does the Sturgis bike rally (NSFW links). Are you as offended by that as you are by dancing, leather-clad men spanking one another in public? Why do gays get hit for gay pride parades but straights aren't judged by biker gatherings? Seems like a double standard to me.
posted by rcade at 07:27 PM on April 23, 2010
1) Could you guys maybe link to a few more cites featuring debauchery? (my wife filters what I can search for, but if I'm just hitting your links I can blame it on sport research)
2) rcade, how could you have lived in Dallas and not heard about the gay pride parade? Seems like it gets a ton of coverage every year. Personally, I think the Easter Gay Pet parade is a better event. (owners are gay, not necessarily the pets)
3) my first comment on this thread was actually more a play on words than it was a joke, a fine line perhaps, just trying to help tt validate his point.
posted by dviking at 12:22 AM on April 24, 2010
Just came in here to say that i wish i was born about 100 years earlier...
posted by StarFucker at 02:05 AM on April 24, 2010
You'd rather live in an age before modern medicine than tolerate gay softball?
posted by rcade at 08:53 AM on April 24, 2010
i wish i was born about 100 years earlier
But then you wouldn't have cheesy alt rock/emo bands to name yourself after.
posted by tahoemoj at 12:14 PM on April 24, 2010
rcade:
Um, why would you just knee-jerk assume that?
And uh, tahoemoj...what band are you even talking about?!
posted by StarFucker at 07:35 PM on April 26, 2010
Okay, I'll bite.
Why do you wish you were born 100 years earlier ?
posted by tommybiden at 07:57 PM on April 26, 2010
tahoemoj...what band are you even talking about?!
Really, that's just a happy coincidence? Click here for information, and maybe even a suggestion. And I, too, think your cryptic post warrants explanation if rcade was incorrect in his assumption.
posted by tahoemoj at 08:42 PM on April 26, 2010
tahoemoj:
Good GOD!@ I never even HEARD of that...band, is it?
Well, i'm not gonna make it easy for you, since you obviously put NO effort into finding out the origins of my name. In fact, you felt it was necessary to insult me without provocation. Most of the 'old timers' here if not all, know where i got my name.
posted by StarFucker at 09:46 PM on April 26, 2010
Anyone else seeing multiple slashes appearing in Preview mode?
posted by StarFucker at 09:46 PM on April 26, 2010
tommytrump:
As far as 100 years earlier?
LAWSUITS!! FRIVOLOUS FUCKING INSANE LAWSUITS! Oh, and lawyers...TOO MANY LAWYERS!!
posted by StarFucker at 09:50 PM on April 26, 2010
No need to yell.
I'm guessing you don't like lawyers, or the litigious society we live in.
posted by tommybiden at 10:21 PM on April 26, 2010
I was yelling in my mind as i was writing...
posted by StarFucker at 10:44 PM on April 26, 2010
you felt it was necessary to insult me without provocation
Insulting? Trust me, you'll know when I'm being insulting. I was just poking fun at the fact that your nom de plume also happened to be a bad club band. You gotta admit, it's kind of funny, especially if you hear any of their music.
As far as looking into the origin of your name, I'm too busy studying for my Bar exam (no, seriously)
posted by tahoemoj at 11:10 PM on April 26, 2010
Thinking that my NICK was because of that horrible band or whatever it is, was insulting! :P
My nick, USED to be cool before that group or whatever was formed...and while we're talking about it, how is it possible they can be called that?! I mean, where are they gonna get gigs?
posted by StarFucker at 12:10 AM on April 27, 2010
Um, why would you just knee-jerk assume that?
I didn't know what you meant. Sorry the guess was so far off the mark.
posted by rcade at 08:36 AM on April 27, 2010
In a related story, the same team just signed Brian Boitano. They say he has a mean curve and he will never be accused of not being gay enough.