Baseball coach outs umpire during game tirade

[Benji]

..........I can't believe this happened during a game of baseball!

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/gay-umpires-ordeal-shows-sad-state-of-sports-081310/?GT1=39002

[Agaith]

It just shows how far there is to go for people to be truly tolerant of gay people, especially in sports.

I cant speak for predominantly US based sports like Baseball but it is a problem still in other sports.

Football (soccer) in UK still has a problem with homophobia. we have only had one footballer ever come out and he comitted suicide

 

The Football Association (FA) were planning a campaign about homophobia but alas it has either been pulled or delayed.

The FA has had big campaigns to kick out racism in football and that proved to be successful.

Sometimes I feel that sports turn a blind eye to what is happening and discrimination against LGBT people not taken as seriously as it really should.

 

(Sorry essay and rant over)

[wildone]

i heard about this and thought about starting a topic on it, but decided to wait till I had more information.

 

First off, the embarrassing thing is that it happened in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Probably the more 'gay tolerant' city in Alberta.

 

I heard a radio interview with the Golden League President and this was brought up. My understanding is the team, the Edmonton Capitals suspended Bowers before he even had the chance to leave the park. The league did move quickly suspending him indefinitely while the investigation was to be completed (usually in pro sports they do the investigation first and then decide the punishment.

 

After the two days, they had enough information to ask for his resignation or be fired.

 

Also the league and team was so appalled by the behavior that they are making mandatory sensitivity training toward sexual orientation for all player, officials and management that are in the league within the next year.

 

The president himself has spoken out against Bowers and has put out a ultimatum to everyone in the league that they will have zero tolerance, as they did in this case, for all future cases of harassment.

 

I hope Major League Baseball is aware of this incident and maybe makes their own moves toward educating what is not acceptable in the bigs as well.

[TetRefine]

This unfortunately isn't unusual. Mens sports and gay people just can't mix. The uber macho, alpha males that permeate locker rooms make that very clear. Believe me, I know. I spent four years playing high school football and even the coaches openly made remarks about gay people. It's sad. It truly is.

[Amelia]

Sucks, but it doesn't have to happen everywhere. We had two openly gay lacrosse players on the men's team when I was in high school and that was more than ten years ago. They said they did get teased, but no more than any other team member. Sometimes it was about their sexuality, but never to the point they felt singled out. We had many conversations about it and, for the most part, the guys on the team were supportive. In college, pretty much every team had gay members in both the mens and womens leagues. To be fair though, I went to UMaine, Farmington which happens to have an extremely open and tolerant community that its known for. I am not, by any means, saying it doesn't happen, but there are cases out there where it is getting better.

[Krista]

The way he did it was terrible on top of outing someone. The manager should be fined and suspended for something like that, definitely ugly.

[TetRefine]

The way he did it was terrible on top of outing someone. The manager should be fined and suspended for something like that, definitely ugly.

 

Luckily he was forced to resign.

[Tim the Traveller]

I would sue the man for slander or anything else I could get away with. Of course, If he had started saying things like that to me, I would not have restrained myself like Billy did, I would be standing over the guy asking him if he wants more fist in his face or if he is done making an ass of himself.....

Edited August 16, 2010 by Tim the Traveller

[Hylas]

Pity Bowers more. Like majority of men in sports, they think open derogatory attacks on gay people are condoned and an accepted given. He lost everything due to the traditional societal tolerance of homophobia. No points for the painfully juvenile way he went about it though. Seriously, some people never grow up... and worse, their elders actually taught them it was okay to be that hateful. Perhaps teaching it to them along with table manners and etiquette.

 

Glad it paved the way for Van Raaphorst to finally come out though, and warmed by the support of the rest of the umpires.