When The Game and Pride Collide

The Chicago Cubs had a small problem. It was called scheduling. It seemed that they had this friendly confines called Wrigley Field nestled on the other side of the Red Line "L" from the city's primary GLBT neighborhood. When Cubs fans and gay folks meet at the Addison Street "L" station, one wonders how "pretty" it becomes.

Now, imagine when a Cubs game is played on the same day of the GLBT Pride parade in Boystown (the neighborhood on the other side of Wrigleyville), scheduled the last Sunday of June. Let's see, 37,000 Cubs fans and 250,000-plus GLBT folks and their supporters...you do the math and factor in the intangibles.

It seems that the last several years, the Cubs became much savvier in their scheduling. They also gave the GLBT community a day of their own at Wrigley Field. You'd think that there is harmony on the North Side after all.

This year, the Cubs scheduled themselves away from Wrigleyville, Boystown and the city's GLBT Pride festivities for a road game on South Side with the White Sox.

Instead, a similar situation will be played out this weekend right here in Minneapolis. While the Twins are entertaining the Milwaukee Brewers, it is also Twin Cities GLBT Pride weekend.

On Sunday morning, if you happen to be on the light rail line that stops by the Metrodome, you would be among visiting Brewers fans from neighboring Wisconsin, along with Twins fans, riding along with GLBT folks heading downtown. Though the baseball fans would depart at the Dome, the GLBT revelers would continue three more stops downtown.

Have you ridden the Hiawatha light rail line before and/or after an event at the Metrodome? Yes, the trains do get packed full of fans. A projected attendance of 35,000 may pale in comparison with the expected 200,000-plus for the Ashley Rukes parade on Hennepin Avenue and the festival at Loring Park, but, still, that's a lot of people cramming the trains on a Sunday afternoon. Sounds like Chicago, eh?

It's interesting existance being gay and a baseball fan. When I write about this subject, I try to put myself in the shoes of being a baseball writer first, concurrently, a gay man who just happens to be, among many things, a lifelong baseball fan. The collision of Pride and baseball on a single day is perhaps the most curious witnessing of society's test of their own fragile tolerance of each other's differences.

However, the game sometimes operate using a forked tongue to speak with when it comes to its relationship with the GLBT community. I remember years ago when Major League Baseball's annual pre-season publication had a two-page ad from the Promise Keepers. When you opened up that publication and found this ad from a group that wants to help send GLBT folks back into the closet, you had to wonder if the league would never welcome its GLBT fans at the turnstiles.

Since the San Francisco Giants introduced a special fundraising event for HIV/AIDS called "Until There's a Cure," several major and minor league ball clubs welcomed a "GLBT Community Day" at the ballpark. From San Francisco to Toronto to Boston, hundreds of gay fans get together and enjoy an evening out at the ballpark. You can find these dates on a website called gaybaseballdays.com.

Not every "gay day" was successful. In Philadelphia, a 2004 event was marred with homophobia by other fans in attendance. When two anti-gay protesters unfurled a poster denouncing homosexuality, 8-10 gay fans came up to block the sign's view, causing a major incident at the ballpark. The backlash still continues in Philly, despite an upcoming community night in August at Citizens Bank Park.

Recently, it seems there has been some progress. A few years ago, former Cincinnati Reds pitcher Joe Valentine honored his mother and her partner for raising him on his way to a major league career. Unfortunately, he had a 0-7 record with a 5.70 ERA and the Reds did not pick up his contract for this season.

Amazing so, the Reds outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr. once told Sports Illustrated that it would not bother him at all if a gay man played on the same ball club...as long as he can play. Marge Schott must be rolling in her grave.

Then, there's always those who feed into the machismo of the realm of sports. Two years ago, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen called a Sun-Times reporter an anti-gay expletive. Reportedly, a "supporter" of the GLBT community, this is not the first time Mr. Inappropriate had to apologize for an anti-gay slur. He forgot to "push" that week.

Let's also not forget about John Rocker.

Conversely, GLBT folks have avoided any contact with sports in general. That seems to be changing as many GLBT folks are coming to the ballparks with significant others, friends and children in tow. Yet, you do have a line of resistance with every anti-gay message from the sport's figures and self-affirming stereotype to keep even the most athletic of gay person away from an evening at the ballpark.

Take for example the brouhaha with the two women kissing in the stands at Safeco Field earlier this season. A lot of ballparks pan their fan cameras on couples encourging them to kiss in front of thousands of fans through their video screen on the scoreboard. If someone has a problem with public displays of affection regardless of sexual orientation, then perhaps we should examine how we present a fan's experience at the ballpark.

Come to think of it, some of my best dates were at the ballpark.

If anything that Bravo TV's Fab Five had done with the Red Sox...or for baseball in general...GLBT fans will always provide a curious quandary for the sport. However, if you really love the sport, take yourself and someone else...or, several others...to the ball game!

Besides, that Twins or Cubs cap isn't just a fashion statement.