Judge: Okay for gay softball team to limit straight players
Thu. June 2, 2011 5:00 PM by GoPride.com News Staff
Seattle -
It's okay for a national gay softball league to limit the number of straight players per team, a judge has ruled, while also ruling that three bisexual players can continue to sue.
In 2008, the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance ruled that a team's second place finish in the Gay Softball World Series was nullified because three players were actually bisexual -- and rules only allow two non-gay players per team.
The men -- Stephen Apilado, Laron Charles and John Russ -- were players on a San Francisco-based team called D2. Other players at the tournament questioned their sexuality, and the league investigated in a way they felt was intrusive.
The league felt their answers were "evasive."
The judge did rule that it's okay for the league to limit the number of non-gay players.
"It would be difficult for NAGAAA to effectively emphasize a vision of the gay lifestyle rooted in athleticism, competition and sportsmanship if it were prohibited from maintaining a gay identity," U.S. District Judge John Coughenour ruled, according to the Associated Press.
The Associated Press also reported that D2 had long been suspected of stacking the team with straight ringers.
In 2008, the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance ruled that a team's second place finish in the Gay Softball World Series was nullified because three players were actually bisexual -- and rules only allow two non-gay players per team.
The men -- Stephen Apilado, Laron Charles and John Russ -- were players on a San Francisco-based team called D2. Other players at the tournament questioned their sexuality, and the league investigated in a way they felt was intrusive.
The league felt their answers were "evasive."
The judge did rule that it's okay for the league to limit the number of non-gay players.
"It would be difficult for NAGAAA to effectively emphasize a vision of the gay lifestyle rooted in athleticism, competition and sportsmanship if it were prohibited from maintaining a gay identity," U.S. District Judge John Coughenour ruled, according to the Associated Press.
The Associated Press also reported that D2 had long been suspected of stacking the team with straight ringers.