Gay baseball teams can limit straights says US judge as bisexuals make discrimination claim
A US federal judge in Seattle has ruled ruled that the north American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance (NAGAAA) can continue to limit the number of straight players that can play in each team participating in the Gay Softball World Series it sponsors. But, he has also allowed a lawsuit brought by three bisexuals to go to trial.
US District Judge John Coughenour said that just like the American Boy Scouts have a constitutional right to exclude gay participants, a gay baseball league has the right to exclude or limit the number of ‘heterosexual’ players. But the judge said that this right might not extend to bisexuals.
The three bisexuals players, Steven Apilado, Jon Russ and LaRon Charles played with a San Francisco softball team which was was eliminated from the 2008 Gay Softball World Series because the team already had two identified straight players.
The three bisexual men claim they were questioned in a meeting of players on whether they were gay or not. After a vote by a 25 strong panel, it was decided that the men ‘were not gay enough’.
They claim that the process was humiliated and discriminatory and violate state anti-discrimination laws.
NAGAAA dispute the claim. The case continues.
