Bisexual Softball Players Sue After 'Gay World Series' Discrimination

[ccharles000]

Three bisexual men are suing a national gay-athletic organization, saying they were discriminated against during the Gay Softball World Series held in the Seattle area two years ago.

The three Bay Area men say the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance in essence deemed them not gay enough to participate in the series.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle accuses the alliance of violating Washington state laws barring discrimination. The alliance organizes the annual Gay Softball World Series.

Beth Allen, the alliance's attorney, said the lawsuit is unwarranted and that the three plaintiffs "were not discriminated against in any unlawful manner."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011657770_lawsuit21m.html?prmid=related_stories_section

[msongs]

1. are the repub teabagger plants lol nt

[Divine Discontent]

2. hmm.. they officially call themselves bisexual, so that's not gay.

[DURHAM D]

3. I would say the "bis" were likely ringers. nt

[The Straight Story]

4. FYI - thread from wed on it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8187340

And no, not complaining about dupe threads here - given that folks check in off and on here I think dupe threads have their place, just tossing this out in case anyone wants to see earlier discussions on it all (and heck, my thread might be a dupe as well. Shit happens).

[Qutzupalotl]

5. You must be at least this gay to participate in the Series.

Yeah, that's messed up.

[anigbrowl]

6. Rules here...

http://www.nagaaasoftball.org/documents/IofG.pdf

Can't really guess how this one will turn out. They define 'gay' as being predominantly interested in the same sex, which doesn't exclude bi players...but quite how they determine the predominance of one orientation over the other, I don't know.

[paulsby]

7. they determine it by asking intrusive sexual questions

as noted in the article.

i posted this in the GLBT forum

[paulsby]

8. "this is the Gay World Series, not the Bisexual World Series"

quote from the article

[pepperbear]

9. what exactly is "gay enough?"

are they looking for stereotypes? do the applicants have to arrange flowers, perform a makeover, plan a dinner for 10 on a budget, coordinate a color pallet, lip sync to judy garland?

It's the same old BS. These folks are jealous because they assume that bisexuals can "pass for straight" and therefore are immune to the usual bigotry. there is also the argument that "bis aren't really bisexual but rather they are gays who won't completely come out."

Speaking as a gay man, I am appalled at the NAGAA. How is this worse then garden variety homophobia? the precedent they set is dangerous and it's fuel to the fire for those who wish to discriminate against the entire LGBT community. Not for nothing, but it's the LGBT community, not the "LGT and SOMETIMES B" community. The right wing hates us all equally enough without us hating each other.