Homophobic T-shirt

[HERVEPA]

I went to the Phillies game on Saturday night, which, as usual, was a disturbing experience in and of itself.
Walking back to my car in the lot, a guy was selling T-shirt with the following on it:

Dallas Sucks
Romo's a Homo

(Romo is Dallas Cowboys quarterback).

The first part is stupid but OK. (Hey, I dislike the Cowboys as much as any Philadelphian).
But the second part really got to me.
I started talking to the guy, telling him what an obnoxious, ignorant, and stupid thing he was doing.
He offered to give me a kick in the ass if I didn't move. I kept my distance but continued to give him crap for a few minutes, keeping a safe distance. (He outweighed me by about 75 pounds and looked stupid enough to start something physical, even with a crowd walking by).

I eventually walked away, but it depressed me for the rest of the evening, and still gets me upset when I think about it.

Everyone else around ignored the situation. I was by myself, as the friend I went with had taken the subway home.

Any suggestions as to what I should or could have done.

Thanks for listening.

[IndianaJones]

1. Such blatant and rampant bigotry simply does not exist any more.

I have not seen such a display in decades. Ours is an enlightened society.

[KitchenWitch]

2. What color is the sky in YOUR world?

:eyes:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

14. magical sky with fairies and demons :)

[KitchenWitch]

15. That's what I thought! :)

Happy shiny things.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

17. or lies and bullshit.

:P

[KitchenWitch]

18. Now you are talking!

;)

[IndianaJones]

16. thats faeries and daemons. there is a difference. nt.

[ThomCat]

24. I think you forgot the sarcasm tag.

If you really meant that, then my opinion of you has just dropped yet another notch.

[IndianaJones]

25. based on your response...my opinion of you has gone up a notch...

that puts you at notch 1.

[Deep13]

3. "...an obnoxious, ignorant, and stupid thing he was doing."

Did you expect something other than a hostile reaction to that? In a moving crowd of people you don't know there really was nothing productive you could have done.

[IndianaJones]

5. Look... we can't have any firing in there. I, uh...

I want you to collect magazines from everybody.

[Deep13]

10. Well that's just great!

Now what the fuck are we supposed to do? We're in some pretty serious shit now, man. Game over!

[IndianaJones]

11. harsh language? stay frosty. nt.

[HERVEPA]

8. I knew I'd get a hostile reaction.

Just couldn't make myself walk by without saying something, and I was hoping someone would notice and give some support. Ha! Stupid hope.

Maybe I could have silently just laughed at him if Flash Gordon and Brett Myers hadn't given up all those home runs.

[I Have A Dream]

4. I don't know that you could do any more than what you did.

...and kudos to you for having the courage to do what you actually did do.

:yourock:

[HERVEPA]

12. Thanks IHAD

[Tektonik]

6. Sounds like a typical fan from Philly!

:puke:

(the guy w/ the shirt, not you)

[Reverend_Smitty]

22. lol that's what I was thinking too

:hide:

You're actually pretty lucky that guy didn't attempt anything more, I've seen some crazy shit go down around Philly sports venues...and I've never even been to an Eagles game at the Vet, they had their own prison cell for unruly fans there

[HERVEPA]

23. I was at a game in San Diego a few weeks ago

(I see you are from there).
Very nice park and extremely nice fans.
I dislike mascots in general, but the Padre mascot is kinda fun.
My brother (who lives out there) caught a home run off the bat of Brian Ensberg in left field. First of his life.
I was hoping to duplicate catching a ball off his bat on last Saturday, but he didn't even play.

[skygazer]

7. Not much productive you could do

For one thing, he probably didn't have the shirts made, he was probably just selling them. So chewing him out wasn't going to solve anything.

Besides that, I've never found that telling someone they were obnoxious, ignorant and stupid was particularly effective in changing their views.

[billyskank]

9. Wow

The guy is obviously an asshole, but if you go around chewing out the homophobes when they have 75 pounds on you and you're on your own, you are going to get your head kicked in.

Not that I'm saying you shouldn't: there's one well-known English gay human-rights campaigner called Peter Tatchell who regularly gets himself beaten up when confronting people. Although he usually manages to get the media's interest over it. Not sure I see much value in getting beaten up if nobody hears about it and no point gets made.

[HERVEPA]

13. Thanks Billy

I'm a little too old to be getting beaten up.
I can't really imagine anyone actually buying the shirt, anyhow. Even a homophobe.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

19. that took courage. good for you!

[HERVEPA]

20. Thanks Lioness (nt)

[bleedingheart]

21. Well first the Eagles and the Cowboys both suck...

;-)

but you were brave to take the guy on...however folks like that you can't change....you can voice your outrage however please be careful..

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. I wonder if there's a local GLBT support group that'd be willing to picket the guy...

He's obviously not going to stop selling the shirts any time soon.

I'm sorry you had such a nasty experience with that prick. :hug:

[BOSSHOG]

27. What you could have done?

Hey, great, a Gay QB in the NFL (maybe there are others.) That should make your pencil dick shrivel up if that is possible you fucking neanderthal asshole. And you can only put slogans on T-shirts that rhyme? How totally fucking ignorant. You must be so proud.

All comments to your tormentor. Let it go my friend.

[KurtNYC]

28. without comment on what the shirts say, tell security that there is an

unlicensed vendor in the parking lot. They would confiscate his stuff and cite him.

[HERVEPA]

29. Unfortunately, it's on what I believe is a public street..

outside the parking lot. I think I will notify Phillies security and or the city in any case, just to see what response I get.

Thanks

[MrSlayer]

31. Good luck.

This happens all the time down there and no one is really going to anything about it. L&I drives around and confiscates a few shirts here and there but there are so many hustlers they can never get them all. They do a pretty lucrative business.

[MrSlayer]

30. There are quite a few of those and it happens everywhere.

"Dallas Sucks, T.O. Swallows" was a big one last year. But if you go to New York or Washington it's the same thing. I just don't buy the shirts. And it's a good thing you kept away, those guys have a network down there and they don't like people fucking with their money, you could have gotten hurt badly.

[HERVEPA]

32. Thanks for the extra info Slayer (nt)