Lesbian Kiss At Seattle Ballpark Fires Up Gay-Friendly Town

[ccharles000]

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon08/06/060508kiss.htm

(Seattle, Washington) 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."

[LisaM]

1. I just heard about this last week

Of course, Safeco makes this ridiculous announcement before every game that there must be NO public displays of affection. We may be a gay-friendly town, but still prudish on some levels. That said, I don't believe I've ever seen anyone else told to stop kissing. If they're going to use that as a basis for asking the gay couple to stop, they need to ask everyone.

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. I remember back when the Mariners sucked. I mean *really* sucked...

I went to a game in the Kingdome, which contained the two teams, the officiating crew, about 3000 fans and 47,000 empty seats. Presumably the fans (like me) had nothing else to do on a thursday night, and the boss had given them the tickets.

Anyway, the camera panned across to what would appear to be a newlywed couple canoodling who were surprised to see themselves on the 30' tall tv. The really public display of affection was the highlight of the game.

Or maybe the red faces were because it was the boss and his secretary - who knows?

[LisaM]

3. Yeah, we used to belong to the "Mariners Fan Club"

they practically paid you to go to games. For something like $30, we got six tickets each, six more two-for-one tickets, and some little trinket like a sports bag or radio. I remember one year you could get in with candy wrappers - I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP - if you had ten Heath bar wrappers, they would give you a ticket to the game!

It's far different now. Heck, in the old days, they probably would have had a GBLT night just to boost attendance. Now, it's always packed, and apparently, sadly, there are some bigots.

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

4. No double standards!

If they want to limit public displays of affection, that's fine as long as the standards are the same across the board with no regard to sexual orientation.

But the woman who complained specifically said that "I don't want to have to explain gay couples to my kids" or something similar. If you have a problem with your kids being exposed to gay couples, you have two choices:

1) Keep your kids tucked away at home or at programs sponsored by a group with anti-gay ideology, probably a conservative Christian youth camp.

2) Explain to your kids why you believe homosexuality is immoral. If they end up disagreeing with you in the long run, tough dung. Everyone has a right to agree or disagree.

[LeftyMom]

5. The thing that sucks is, the rest of us parents *want* teachable moments.

Sheltering kids doesn't work, and it's sad and harmful that some people want to create a society where sheltering is automatic because everybody's secretive and repressed.