"'Not gay enough' softball players settle suit" caught my eye.
Pictured here (courtesy of the National Center for Lesbian Rights) is the D2 softball team, which plays in the San Francisco Gay Softball League. (Of course I'm not making this up. It's San Francisco!) In 2008 D2 finished in second place in the Gay Softball World Series. But then came the challenge.
Seems the league rules allow a maximum of two heterosexuals (or metrosexuals or whatever it is) per team. But, the Atlanta Mudcats complained, D2 had three players who were not sufficiently light in the loafers. The three countered that they were actually bisexual -- capable of batting left or right, so to speak.
There followed a hearing in front of a panel of 25 LGBT types from the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance (not making that up either) who asked some very intrusive and embarrassing questions.
LaRon Charles, who was D2's manager, and whose Facebook profile says he's married to, errr, a woman, was asked whether he could say he was bisexual. When he replied in the affirmative, he was told, "This is the Gay World Series, not the Bisexual World Series."
The Alliance ultimately determined that the three men were "non-gay" and that D2 had broken the rules. This being America, the decision was followed by a lawsuit, which was finally settled late last year.
The settlement came a week after U.S. District Judge John Coughenour ruled that the group had the right under the First Amendment to limit the number of heterosexuals who could play on a team to two. The judge also found that there had been no discimination against the bis.
However, the NAGAAA will kiss and make up. They will pay D2 an undisclosed sum and will give back their second-place 2008 championship trophy.
Warms the cockles of your heart, doesn't it? If your cockles get too warm, rub them with ice.
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