Too Straight To Play

Last month a winning San Francisco softball team was disqualified from the gay softball World Series after a judge ruled that they had too many straight players. The rules stipulate that no more than two players on a team may be straight.

D2, a team from San Francisco, beat the Atlanta Mudcats in the series to qualify for the A Division championship game against the Los Angeles Vipers. But the Mudcats filed a protest, alleging that six of D2’s players were straight. North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance (NAGAA) rules state a team in the series may have no more than two straight players on its squad. A review indicated that four of the six players were straight, D2 was disqualified, the championship was awarded to the Vipers, and the Mudcats and other teams which finished behind D2 all moved up a notch in the standings.

San Francisco Gay Softball League Commissioner Vincent Suquay said the team was appealing the disqualification, and he hoped the matter would be resolved this month. As of press time, NAGAA Commissioner Roy Melani had not commented on the disqualification or the appeal. The official Gay World Series, web site, gave no indication of the disqualification other than to show the Vipers finishing in first, the Mudcats finishing in second, the Phoenix Toros in third, and the Atlanta Venom and Houston Force in fourth.

Suquay, who said he does not think a discriminatory ban against heterosexuals should exist, said the sexuality of the players was judging by asking players questions. "My understanding," Suquay said, "is they were read a definition of what a homosexual person was and what a gay person was. How they responded was used to determine whether they were gay or straight. Not one person when they responded ever actually said they were straight. These were not new players; they had played in six Gay World Series already. As long as I’ve been involved with NAGAA, nobody before has been disqualified."

From what I understand, most gay sports leagues have many straight players that mix in easily with the gays. I can understand the desire to keep the league gay, but how gay is gay enough? And how does this league determine what gay/homosexual is, exactly? I'd love to read their definition. When I played softball for my office, it was in the Manhattan Women's League (or some similar name), and we had to field at least four females every inning. The straight rule seems a lot more nebulous.

(Via - Edge Boston)