Ballpark Protest of Lesbian Kiss Sparks Discussion of Discrimination Issue
Accounts differ about exactly what happened. But a woman says she was asked by an usher to stop kissing her female date at a recent Seattle Mariners baseball game after another fan complained the public display of affection wasn’t suitable for children, even though similar behavior by opposite-sex couples apparently wasn’t prohibited.
In fact, an ABC News article points out, the “Kiss Cam” puts opposite-sex couples locking lips at Major League Baseball games on stadium’s the big-screen JumboTrons.
Mariners officials say they enforce the same PDA rules to couples regardless of the gender or genders concerned. However, one of the two women involved, 23-year-old Sirbrina Guerrero contends that didn’t appear to be true, and–along with other supporters of equal rights for lesbian and gay couples–has complained about the apparent smooching double-standard, reports the Associated Press.
A Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist provided a detailed account of the incident last week. And a Big Blog post in the P-I today provides a further update: “Contrary to some media reports, Guerrero said she hadn’t sued the Mariners and hadn’t been thinking of doing so.” Guerrero says she’s spoken with Lambda Legal, a national LGBT civil rights group, the post continues, but is looking for fairness rather than money.
“I was really just shocked,” Guerrero tells AP. “Seattle is so gay-friendly. There was a couple like seven rows ahead making out. We were just showing affection.”
Although she denies that anything other than kissing was involved, “on Thursday, after an internal investigation, the Mariners said in a news release that their seating staff had acted appropriately, and the couple was approached because of their behavior–which included ‘making out’ and ‘groping’ in the stands–and not their sexual orientation,” the news agency reports.
Among those who have rallied to Sirbrina’s cause is sex advice columnist Dan Savage, who himself is openly gay. He is proposing that a “kiss-in” be held in protest of the seemingly unequal treatment of same-sex couples.
The blogosphere is buzzing about the issue and, regardless of whether stadium staff did or didn’t discriminate, some members of the public are clearly less comfortable with same-sex PDA, according to AP.
