Below is a story taken from the AP just yesterday. Please take a look at it and then I have a couple of observations and a couple of questions. Thanks in advance for any replies.
Lesbian kiss at Seattle ballpark stirs up gay-friendly town
By MANUEL VALDES – 1 day ago
SEATTLE (AP) — Most of the time, a kiss is just a kiss in the stands at Seattle Mariners games. The crowd hardly even pays attention when fans smooch.
But then last week, a lesbian complained that an usher at Safeco Field asked her to stop kissing her date because it was making another fan uncomfortable.
The incident has exploded on local TV, on talk radio and in the blogosphere and has touched off a debate over public displays of affection in generally gay-friendly Seattle.
"Certain individuals have not yet caught up. Those people see a gay or lesbian couple and they stare or say something," said Josh Friedes of Equal Rights Washington. "This is one of the challenges of being gay. Everyday things can become sources of trauma."
As the Mariners played the Boston Red Sox on May 26, Sirbrina Guerrero and her date were approached in the third inning by an usher who told them their kissing was inappropriate, Guerrero said.
The usher, Guerrero said, told them he had received a complaint from a woman nearby who said that there were kids in the crowd of nearly 36,000 and that parents would have to explain why two women were kissing.
"I was really just shocked," Guerrero said. "Seattle is so gay-friendly. There was a couple like seven rows ahead making out. We were just showing affection."
On Monday, Mariners spokeswoman Rebecca Hale said that the club is investigating but that the usher was responding to a complaint of two women "making out" and "groping" in the stands.
"We have a strict non-discrimination policy at the Seattle Mariners and at Safeco Field, and when we do enforce the code of conduct it is based on behavior, not on the identity of those involved," Hale said.
The code of conduct — announced before each game — specifically mentions public displays of affection that are "not appropriate in a public, family setting." Hale said those standards are based on what a "reasonable person" would find inappropriate.
Guerrero denied she and her date were groping each other, saying that along with eating garlic fries, they were giving each other brief kisses.
On Tuesday, Guerrero said a Mariners director of guest services had apologized to her. The team spokeswoman could not immediately confirm that.
After the story broke, the Mariners were blasted by the sex-advice columnist Dan Savage, who wrote about the incident on the blog of the Stranger, an alternative weekly paper.
"I constantly see people making out," Savage said. "My son has noticed and asked, `Do they show the ballgame on women's foreheads?'"
Savage called for a "kiss-in" to protest against the Mariners.
Web sites have been swamped with blog postings for and against Guerrero and her date. And the story has people talking in Seattle.
"I would be uncomfortable" seeing public displays of affection between lesbians or gay men, said Jim Ridneour, a 54-year-old taxi driver. "I don't think it's right seeing women kissing in public. If I had my family there, I'd have to explain what's going on."
"It all depends on the degree," Mark Ackerman said as he waited for a hot dog outside Safeco Field before Wednesday's game. "Even for heterosexual couples."
Since the incident, Guerrero's job and her past have come under scrutiny. She works at a bar known for scantily clad women and was a contestant on the MTV reality show "A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila," in which women and men compete for the affection of a bisexual Internet celebrity.
"People are saying it's 15 more minutes for my career," Guerrero said of the ballpark furor, "but this is not making me look very good."
In 2007, an Oregon transit agency chief apologized after a lesbian teenager was kicked off a bus when a passenger complained about her kissing another girl.
Also in 2007, a gay rights group protested a Kansas City, Mo., restaurant they said ejected four women because two of them kissed, and a Texas state trooper was placed on probation in 2004 for telling two gay men who were kissing at the state Capitol that homosexual conduct was illegal in Texas.
"There's a double standard. That's the bottom line," said Pat Griffin, director of the It Takes a Team! Education Campaign, an initiative from the Women's Sports Foundation to eliminate homophobia in sports.
Okay, here's what I have for you. Radio talk show host Neal Boortz is always asking how a homosexual's lifestyle can possibly impact his personal life. And then we see people who do not want their children subjected to displays of homosexual affection in public.
If we outlaw those practices, the gay lobby will then say NO displays of public affection should be allowed. And I think the courts would uphold such a law. So, what is our response? Do we ignore these public displays of gay affection? Do we outlaw them? And when WE are not allowed to show affection in public, how do we respond?
Should children be subjected to these alternative lifestyles? We promote inter-racial relationships, so how could homosexual relationships rate any lower on the "I'm offended" meter? I'm just asking. You know, people still don't buy into the melting pot idea... and they compose all races.
OK, here's my Opinion. They should crawl back in the closet. It is wrong, it is an "abomonation". My God hates it, so I think I should too.
Enforcer wrote:
Okay, here's what I have for you. Radio talk show host Neal Boortz is always asking how a homosexual's lifestyle can possibly impact his personal life. And then we see people who do not want their children subjected to displays of homosexual affection in public.
If we outlaw those practices, the gay lobby will then say NO displays of public affection should be allowed. And I think the courts would uphold such a law. So, what is our response? Do we ignore these public displays of gay affection? Do we outlaw them? And when WE are not allowed to show affection in public, how do we respond?
A kiss is just that, a kiss. Should a kiss be outlawed? No! passionate and groping in public? Yes!
Quote:
Should children be subjected to these alternative lifestyles? We promote inter-racial relationships, so how could homosexual relationships rate any lower on the "I'm offended" meter? I'm just asking. You know, people still don't buy into the melting pot idea... and they compose all races.
I home school my children and this is one of the reason for it. The public schools are teaching alternative lifestyle, but will not allow anything pertaining to Christian religion.
I don't approve of inter-racial relationships either, but it's not same-sex!
OK, there's my opinion! you can shoot it down, but it's still mine.
I'm not a homophobe, nor a racist!
I hate everyone equally.... _________________ mesatoad
war_bird1(at)hotmail.com
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"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."
-Albert Einstein
I was homeschooled before i went to public school and i never got used to it,my personal opinons constantly got me failing grades,which means i had to take the propaganda pills to pass,but where mother looked under my tongue,big bro did not.
San Fag-cisco the Homo capital of the planet is a perfect example of a testing ground for everything WE as GOD-FEARING folk hate and dispise.
Portland,Oregon is a beautiful place,the chics are liberal and easy,and the males are busy looking at each other(YES I HAVE BEEN THERE-4DAYS)ENFORCER has struck a nerve with me on this,my daugther gets hit-on by these rainbow bitches quite a bit,i've caught and choked 1 so far(FYI-YES I WILL USE FORCE WHEN CALLED FOR.)the others got the message..moral of my story?When you SEE the cockroach..STEP-ON IT BEFORE IT BREEDS MORE thus creating infestation.
In light of this subject. If two girls want to kiss each other with nasty garlic fry breath,......by all means be a nasty breathing dyke. but frankly fellas if i were right behinde them at this game I would never have noticed them becaue i would have been watching the game. _________________ So we shall flow a river forth to thee, and teaming with souls shall it ever be.
WELL LETS SEE HERE I FIRST STARTED HOMESCHOOLING MY KIDS BECAUSE OF THE FEDERAL GOVS INTERVENTION IN THE SCHOOLS PERIOD.A MAN AND WOMAN KISSING IN PUBLIC IS CONSIDERED AFFECTION. 2 MEN OR 2 WOMEN KISSING IN PUBLIC IS CONSIDERED A HOMOSEXUAL ACT DO NOT FORCE ME TO EXPLAIN THIS TO MY CHILDREN. MAN LOVES WOMEN EQUALS SURVIVAL OF OUR SPECIES. THAT IS WHAT I PREFER TO TEACH MY CHILDREN . WE AS A MAJORITY SHOULD HAVE THE FINALE SAY IN IT ALL. OUR COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED ON GODS LAW. LETS KEEP IT THAT WAY. I DO NOT TRY TO FORCE MY HETEROSEXUAL LIFE STYLE ON HOMOSEXUALS DO NOT TRY TO FORCE YOUR LIFESTYLE ON ME OUR ME CHILDREN. OUR LAWS IN AMERICA WERE FOUNDED ON GODS LAW THE LAW OF THE LAND . GODS LAW IS OUR LAW.K.R.
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