Compiled By Howard Israel
S/he Said
"I ask as an LGBT fan and on behalf of the center that you both please add sexual orientation provisions to the MLB's new collective bargaining agreement, and encourage each team owner to add sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression protections to their team's employment nondiscrimination policies. The National Football League added a provision that the league would not discriminate against a player based on his sexual orientation to the collective bargaining agreement approved earlier this summer. The National Hockey League added similar protections for its players in 2005, as did Major League Soccer in 2004. By adding the sexual orientation nondiscrimination language … these leagues send a strong signal to the league's LGBT fans that they are supported and affirmed, since professional sports have been described as one of the last bastions of homophobia."
-Rafael McDonnell, communications and advocacy manager for Dallas' LGBT community center, in letters to Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and Major League Baseball Players Association exec director Matthew Weiner, http://www.dallasvoice.com, Nov. 22. The agreement will add "sexual orientation" to the league's anti-discrimination policy.
"Most of us are still Neanderthals."
-An anonymous New York Mets baseball player, about the comfort level of Major League Baseball (MLB) players knowing openly gay teammates, responding to the new collective bargaining agreement between the Major League Baseball Players an MLB adding "sexual orientation" to the league's non-discrimination policy, http://www.nydailynews.com, Nov. 23.
"In the larger picture, homosexual activists are trying to have their ideology become dominant, not only in the most liberal segments of society, like academia, but in the most conservative institutions, such as the military, the church, and now in sports. Liberals attack conservatives for the idea of legislating morality, but this is exactly what's happening when one of these codes is adopted. It's saying that anyone who disapproves of homosexual conduct, for whatever reason, is a bigot and we are taking a moral stance against that. This is not a neutral act. It's taking sides in the culture war."
-Peter Sprigg, Family Research Council, http://www.citizenlink.com, Nov. 25. CitizenLink is the political arm of the FRC.
"You're probably wondering to yourself, 'How did so-called Christian conservative group Family Research Council show their gratitude this Thanksgiving weekend?' The answer: they didn't. Instead they spent their holiday blasting major league baseball for including sexual orientation non-discrimination rules in its collective bargaining agreement. But to FRC, baseball is simply cowering before the gay agenda. Even if baseball were a bastion of right wing conservatism – depending on the region and fan base, some teams may be – it does not belong to conservatives. FRC, Sprigg and other anti-gay activists forget that baseball is all of America's pastime, not just right-wing fundamentalist bigots' pastime."
-Andrew Belonsky, in his column titled "Conservative Group Spends Thanksgiving Griping About Baseball's Gay Love," responding to comments made by Peter Sprigg, http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com, Nov. 25.
