Banned players settle with gay softball group

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Whatever happened to being a "Switch Hitter" ?

http://news.yahoo.com/banned-players-settle-gay-softball-group-183040349.html

By GENE JOHNSON | AP – Mon, Nov 28, 2011

SEATTLE (AP) — A gay softball organization has agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to three players who were disqualified from its 2008 Gay Softball World Series because of their perceived heterosexuality.

And as part of the settlement announced Monday, their team will be awarded the second-place trophy it was denied at the time.

The men — Stephen Apilado, Laron Charles and John Russ — filed the federal lawsuit against the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance last year, claiming they had been discriminated against because they were bisexual, not gay.

They had played for years on a San Francisco-based team called D2. Rumors had persisted that the team was stacked with straight ringers, and when they made it all the way to the finals of the 2008 tournament in the Seattle area, others filed a protest, accusing D2 of exceeding the limit of two heterosexual players per team.

Tournament officials convened a protest committee and brought in five D2 members for questioning. In a conference room filled with about 25 people, many of them strangers, the players were asked questions about their sexuality and private lives. The protest committee then voted on whether the men were gay.

Two were determined to be gay, but the committee found Apilado, Charles and Russ to be straight. The organization said that at the time, the men never identified themselves as bisexual, were evasive or refused to answer questions about their sexuality. Minutes of the hearing say that Charles claimed to be gay but acknowledged being married to a woman, and Apilado initially said he was both gay and straight but then acknowledged being more attracted to women.

The men said they weren't given the option of stating outright that they were bisexual, even though the organization considered bisexual players to be gay for roster purposes. They and their team were disqualified. One observer at the hearing commented, "This is not a bisexual World Series. This is a gay World Series."

NAGAA said the settlement came after the organization won a series of motions limiting what claims the players could present at trial.

The players initially asked the court to throw out the roster limit on straight players as discriminatory. But U.S. District Judge John Coughenour ruled that the organization had a constitutional right to limit the number of straight players as a means of promoting their message that openly gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals can thrive in competitive sports.

The judge said the case could proceed to trial because questions remained about the way the softball association applied its rule, including whether the questions asked at the hearing were unnecessarily intrusive. The trial was set for next month.

"We have been vindicated by the judge's First Amendment rulings," said Roy Melani, NAGAAA's commissioner. "This lawsuit threatened not only the purpose of our organization, but also its future. We fought hard to protect ourselves and our core identity and I am relieved this issue is finally behind us."

Since the lawsuit was filed, NAGAAA has added language to its rules clarifying that bisexual and transgender players are fully welcomed participants in its events. As part of the settlement, the organization said disqualifying D2 was not consistent with its goal of welcoming bisexual players.

"NAGAAA regrets the impacts the 2008 protest hearing had on plaintiffs and their team," the settlement reads.

The National Center for Lesbian Rights, which represented the men, welcomed the changes but said they should go even further. The group still wants NAGAAA to delete its roster limits on straight players, on the grounds that it encompasses gay players who are in the closet or who choose not to put a label on their sexuality.

Charles said he's looking forward to playing more softball.

"It means a lot to me that NAGAAA is going to recognize our second place finish in 2008," Charles said in a statement. "I look forward to continuing to play ball with my friends, teammates and community in NAGAAA's tournaments."

Edited November 30, 2011 by Why_Me

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

How does a player prove that they are gay and not straight? I mean is there some kind of test they have to take? And if so what does that test consist of...and what do they have to do the pass that test?

Edited November 30, 2011 by Why_Me

[kytwell 179]

The old adage proving true again: Do as I say, not as I do. These special interest, minority groups want the larger mainstream groups to be all encompassing, but it's perfectly legit for them to have their own separate thing, as well as be a participant in the main stream thing.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

The old adage proving true again: Do as I say, not as I do. These special interest, minority groups want the larger mainstream groups to be all encompassing, but it's perfectly legit for them to have their own separate thing, as well as be a participant in the main stream thing.

[Ban Hammer 13,399]

How does a player prove that they are gay and not straight? I mean is there some kind of test they have to take? And if so what does that test consist of...and what do they have to do the pass that test?

sometimes, it´s best not to ask questions.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

sometimes, it´s best not to ask questions.

I wouldn't want to be within 5 miles of that bunch when they hold their "team try-outs".

Edited November 30, 2011 by Why_Me

[Ban Hammer 13,399]

Yeah, it's kinda ironic these same *REMOVED*, which have hounded the Boy Scouts.... even getting them booted from parks and schools for not embracing gay types are themselves holding what could only be called "inquisitions" in to the sexuality of the people it allows or not into it's membership.

Could it get any richer?

one post removed for a slur, post returned above minus the slur.

danno, you should know better by now.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Bad Danno ! Next time Danno please try and be politically correct or were going to have to send you to San Francisco for some hardcore sensitivity training California style.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Whatever happened to being a "Switch Hitter" ?

Heterophobics!!!!!!!!

[Danno 1,228]

Bad Danno ! Next time Danno please try and be politically correct or were going to have to send you to San Francisco for some hardcore sensitivity training California style.

Considering all the gay themed things using the term "#######" (####### eye for the straight guy).... how can it be a slur anyway?

Oh let me guess.... they have special permission.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Considering all the gay themed things using the term "#######" (####### eye for the straight guy).... how can it be a slur anyway?

Oh let me guess.... they have special permission.

Being "politically correct" is a large part of the dumbing down of America". Here's a prime example of that down below.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/daily/jan99/district27.htm

Williams Aide Resigns in Language Dispute

By Yolanda Woodlee

Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, January 27, 1999; Page B1

The director of D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams's constituent services office resigned after being accused of using a racial slur, the mayor's office said yesterday.

David Howard, head of the Office of Public Advocate, said he used the word "niggardly" in a Jan. 15 conversation about funding with two employees.

"I used the word 'niggardly' in reference to my administration of a fund," Howard said in a written statement yesterday. "Although the word, which is defined as miserly, does not have any racial connotations, I realize that staff members present were offended by the word.

"I immediately apologized," Howard said. " . . . I would never think of making a racist remark. I regret that the word I did use offended anyone."

When Howard, who is white, noticed the reaction to his use of the word, he apologized to his three-member staff, which is made up of two blacks and another white. It is unclear which two employees he was addressing when he used the word.

Soon after the remark was uttered, the rumor mill started churning that Howard had used the word "***."

Howard said he has received numerous telephone calls since Jan. 15 from people in the community who had heard "I had made a racist remark . . . [which is] in fact unquotable here."

The Barnhard Dictionary of Etymology traces the origins of "niggardly" to the 1300s and the words nig and nigon, meaning miser, in Middle English. It also notes possible earlier origins in languages including Old Icelandic, Old English and Middle High German. There is no mention of any racial connotation.

Howard said the rumor that he had used a racial slur "has severely compromised my effectiveness as the District's Public Advocate and in the best interest of my office, I resigned," effective Monday.

Howard is the second mayoral appointee in two weeks to quit, and his resignation comes at a time when Williams's administration is being bombarded with questions regarding race relations -- his "loyalty" to his race as well as the diversity of his staff. Williams (D) is black; Howard was one of four white men Williams appointed on the first official business day of his administration.

Five days after Williams named the senior policy advisers, a group of residents from east of the Anacostia River -- many of whom had been part of the Draft Williams Committee -- complained that the mayor had "missed a unique opportunity" to name someone who lives in Southeast Washington to his personal staff. And they questioned whether Williams would be responsive to the predominantly black and working-class communities of the city.

The issue of race continued to dog the mayor the next week, when a D.C. resident wrote an opinion piece in the Jan. 17 Washington Post questioning whether Williams is "black enough."

Williams said that he was "confused" by the opinion piece and that he had a track record of helping minorities. Williams said he recognized during his campaign that race was creating a "great divide in the city." He said his campaign was a diverse coalition that represented people across the District.

"While I'm troubled by recent news stories concerning race -- questions about whether I'm black enough or have too many advisers who are not -- I understand that they reflect a great hurt within our city," Williams said in a written statement last night. "I am committed to representing all of the people of our city and making sure my administration truly reflects the city's diversity.

"I am particularly sensitive to the need to include people that have felt excluded from the political process and governance of the city, such as residents east of the Anacostia River.

"One thing I've learned, we will never relieve the pain or heal a hurt if we refuse to talk about the cause," Williams said. "We need to get issues around race relations out in the open."

Williams said yesterday that he accepted Howard's resignation after reports that Howard had made an "inappropriate racial comment."

Howard's resignation follows that of scheduler James Day, who left after a salary dispute.

Howard served as the volunteer coordinator and office manager during Williams's mayoral campaign, overseeing 1,600 volunteers. When Howard was appointed to head the office that responds to residents' complaints about services such as trash pickup, welfare benefits and police protection, the mayor's office put out a brief biography that said Howard was "often referred to as the 'glue' that bonded everyone together." He was to be paid $58,148 a year.

According to the biography, Howard graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in economics and has managed several top restaurants in the city.

[Ban Hammer 13,399]

post alleging ties to a racist group removed along with 2 quoting

Edited December 1, 2011 by charles!

[Danno 1,228]

post alleging ties to a racist group removed along with 2 quoting

The guy just can't abide by the rules of the board here, always insulting members and making claims which he refuses to back-up.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

The guy just can't abide by the rules of the board here, always insulting members and making claims which he refuses to back-up.

Agreed. He seems to make it a habit of calling people rude names on here and insulting anyone he doesn't agree with.

[Danno 1,228]

Agreed. He seems to make it a habit of calling people rude names on here and insulting anyone he doesn't agree with.

Amen Bro, you know, there are a number of people I continually disagree with, generally these disagreements take place without name calling, not sure why that is the first course of action for this member.