The battle between the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance and the National Center for Lesbian Rights is finally over. The two groups reached a settlement over the Thanksgiving weekend, ending a lawsuit that has raged on since the 2008 Gay World Series.
In the settlement three players have been reinstated and their team's second-place finish is now fully recognized, while NAGAAA maintains the Constitutional right to limit the number of straight players on a team.
At the 2008 event, NAGAAA limited the number of non-gay players on any team to two; because these three players claimed to be bisexual, their team, D2, exceeded the non-gay limit and was disqualified after an allegedly disturbing inquisition process.
The players said they were called into a conference room, where they were questioned in front of more than 25 people, most of them strangers, about their sexual orientations and private lives. According to a release from NCLR, the players were forced to answer whether they were “predominantly” interested in men or women, without being given the option of answering that they were bisexual. In response to a player's statement that he was attracted to both men and women, a NAGAAA member who was in the room reportedly stated, “this is not a bisexual world series”this is a gay world series.” NAGAAA's protest committee voted that the three plaintiffs were “believed to be heterosexual,” and their team was disqualified from its second place finish. In the settlement, NAGAAA recognized that disqualifying the players from the 2008 tournament was not consistent with NAGAAA's intention of being inclusive of bisexual players. NAGAAA now recognizes the players' team”D2″as a second-place winner of the 2008 Gay Softball World Series, and will award the team a second-place trophy.
Earlier this year, NAGAAA changed its policy to include an unlimited number of LGBT players on any team, with the two-player limit applying strictly to self-identified straight players.
“It means a lot to me that NAGAAA is going to recognize our second place finish in 2008,” said LaRon Charles, one of the plaintiffs in the case, in a written statement. “I am happy NAGAAA has also made rule changes to let players like me know they are welcome. I look forward to continuing to play ball with my friends, teammates and community in NAGAAA's tournaments.”
A request to NCLR to speak with the plaintiffs was denied.
The lawsuit originally had far bigger goals, as NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter told the website Outsports previously that he wanted to prohibit gay sports organizations from limiting the number of straight players. However, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour said in a ruling earlier this year that there was no compelling state interest in forcing gay events to allow straight players:
“NAGAAA might very well believe that given the history of gay exclusion for sports, the only way to promote competition for all persons, and ensure that gay athletes have the same opportunities as straight athletes, is to create an exclusively gay community with exceptions for a small number of straight players.,” the judge wrote in his decision. “It is not the role of the courts to scrutinize the content of an organization's chosen expression.”
NAGAAA also has committed to continue discussing whether to drop the straight-player rule altogether, and will co-sponsor [a] panel discussion at the next Gay Softball World Series.
