Oh Dear, Homophobe Daniel Murphy is at it Again

Daniel Murphy adding more fuel to the fire.

I pictured newly acquired Chicago Cub Daniel Murphy standing at home plate at Wrigley Field this Sunday in front of a mic during the Out at Wrigley event.  My dream, perhaps delusion, would be that Murphy would address the crowd, Lou Gehrig-like, and walk back his homophobic comments from three years ago, which angered LGBTQ folks and allies around the nation.

Those words were stated while as a New York Met at a time when many people were tricked into thinking that homophobia was on the wane following the Supreme Court’s decision making marriage equality the law of the land.  Murphy was asked a question about Major League Baseball’s Ambassador for Inclusion, Billy Bean, a former major league baseball player who came out as gay following his career.

“I disagree with his lifestyle,” Murphy said, citing his faith. “I do disagree with the fact that Billy is a homosexual. That doesn’t mean I can’t still invest in him and get to know him. I don’t think the fact that someone is a homosexual should completely shut the door on investing in them in a relational aspect.” Since then, Murphy had become friends with Bean.

In a commentary in The Guardian on August 23, Parker Molloy, who is lesbian, wrote: “The truth is that saying you ‘disagree with the fact that [somebody] is a homosexual’ is homophobic. It’s like somebody saying ‘I disagree with your hair,’ ‘I disagree with your race,’ or ‘I disagree with your gender’. In all three examples you can say that you don’t like someone’s hair, race or gender; but it’s not exactly yours to disagree with in terms of existence. The same goes for the statement, ‘I disagree with his lifestyle’.

Molloy adds, “Being gay is no more of a ‘lifestyle’ than being straight is, and treating it as such is honestly pretty demeaning to those of us in the LGBT community. It suggests that we’re lesser, that we’re broken, that we’re wrong for being who we are. It’s hurtful, plain and simple.”

But any aspiration that Murphy, 33, would show that he evolved and perhaps backed off from those comments was dashed when he was told at a presser that Cubs fans are unhappy he joined the team because of his anti-gay stance and would not root for the team.

In a mocking tone, he said, “Oh dear. I would hope you would root for the Cubs.”

Those comments are shown below.

Daniel Murphy on his relationship with Billy Beane and LGBTQA #Cubs fans pic.twitter.com/68WivcVTSr

— Laurence Holmes (@LaurenceWHolmes) August 23, 2018

Cyd Zeigler of OUTsports, a website that discusses the intersection of sports and the LGBTQ community, opined: “'Oh dear,' he said, as he looked off dismissively into space. In other words: These gay people are just so damn overly sensitive when Christians like me say they bad things about them.”

Added Zeigler, “He went on with a I-couldn’t-care-less-what-those-gays-think answer about how gay fans should continue to cheer for the Cubs.”

After being unsigned by the Mets, Murphy was picked up by the Washington Nationals—a team which benefited from Murphy’s strong batting—and who holds annual Nights Out at the Ballpark.  Though the controversy regarding his homophobic comments did not overtly surface in the district, which has the highest percentage of LGBTQ people in the nation, and no other similar public comments were made during his tenure in D.C., some were still wary at the outset.

“We expressed our concerns to the Nats about this as well as when Yunel Escobar was traded to the team a couple of years before,” said Brent Minor, Executive Director of Team DC, the organizers of Night Out.  “During one Night OUT game, we worked with MLB to have Billy Bean come and speak to the team about diversity and inclusion.

Minor indicated that he had a conversation with Bean in which he was told that Bean spoke directly to Murphy and while acknowledging he still held deeply religious views on the topic, felt he was heard and respected.

Minor went on to tout the Nationals and their support of Team DC and the Night Out series.

“They even had the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington ‘sing’ their holiday card that is sent to all season ticket holders a few years back.” He also saluted pitchers Max Scherzer and Sean Doolittle for their vocal support of the LGBTQ community.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Cubs General Manager Jed Hoyer reached out to Billy Bean prior to the trade and the Cubs was satisfied with his response.

It will be interesting to see what the fans’ reaction may be upon Murphy’s introduction during Out at Wrigley on August 26. The second such event held this year at Wrigley, and which bills itself as “The Nation’s Original MLB Gay Day,” is intended to celebrate the LGBTQ community. Wrigley Field is just outside the iconic gay “Boystown” neighborhood and the Cubs is the only MLB team with openly gay owner in Laura Ricketts.

I would suspect that many fans would back Murphy because they see the LGBTQ community in the same light. Others clearly would be angered. 

But oh dear, don’t expect him to apologize.  

Pride Shows Us the Distance Traveled

With most of the Pride celebrations throughout the world now in the rear view mirror, it is beyond amazing how far we have traveled down the road to equality.  Keep in mind there is so much unfinished business needing to be addressed throughout the U.S. and the world, but what has transpired over the 45 years since Stonewall should definitely put a smile on our faces.

To put it in perspective, here is what the gay world looked like before Stonewall:

Frequent gay bar raids occurred with police demanding ID’s under the threat of arrest.  Entrapment by the police was astonishingly commonplace especially in what are called “cruising areas.”  So was blackmail.

Names of the arrested were published in the newspapers: Jobs lost.  Tenants evicted from apartments.  Families were torn apart. 

Gays were beaten up by straights with alarming frequency.  Same-sex dancing was prohibited, as was touching.  Gay sex was criminal behavior.

You had Mafia-owned bars serving overpriced watered-down drinks whose owners often worked in collusion with the police and cared not one bit about the gays and lesbians who were their customers as long as they could make money off of them.  Bar bouncers roughed up drunken gays.

There were no laws on the books to protect against discrimination in employment, housing or public accommodations.  

Gays and lesbians were banished from the military following extensive witch-hunts. 

There were no domestic partner benefits or any rights based on same-sex relationships at major corporations and few universities. 

There were no openly gay elected officials, and anyone in the public eye remained in the closet. No officeholder supported an end to the harassment, much less advocated for equality.  The thought of marriage between same-sex partners didn’t even exist.

A television show with a major gay character was unthinkable, as well as an openly gay actor.  Any gay characters portrayed in movies were either depressed, suicidal, flamboyant or a victim of some sort.   There were few, if any, gay-related periodicals.

Homosexuality was viewed as a psychological disorder; queers were considered sick and fair game by a hostile, homophobic society. 

Most chose to remain in the closet.  Partners were introduced as “roommates.”  And because of family pressures, so many gays and lesbians were virtually forced to date or marry members of the opposite sex to deflect any suspicion of being gay.

The world then was hardly decorated with rainbow flags and pins.  For those of us who have experienced it, we know all too well how depressing and lonely it was. 

When the first Pride took place in New York a year after Stonewall, it was all about trying to gain rights and not to be treated as second-class citizens.  There were speeches, signs and banners proclaiming liberation (or at least hoping for it).  There was no celebrating; it was a coming together of people who had suffered indignities and to demand changes.

Now fast-forward to today and just think of how much has changed.  Without going into the myriad significant achievements, particularly over the past 10 years, all one needs to do is to take a look at Pride 2014 here and elsewhere, and it will be mind boggling.   

Today, Pride has mirrored LGBT acceptance to the point that politicians are falling over each other to be seen in a Pride parade.  Candidates at all levels proudly march with LGBT supporters at their side.  The President of the U.S., governors, mayors and aldermen routinely issue proclamations denoting LGBT Pride month.

Mr. Obama stated in his proclamation: “As progress spreads from State to State, as justice is delivered in the courtroom, and as more of our fellow Americans are treated with dignity and respect — our Nation becomes not only more accepting, but more equal as well.”  By contrast, 45 years ago Richard Nixon was president. 

Banks, airlines, breweries, credit card companies and numerous other corporate entities see the business advantages of participating and/or sponsoring Pride events to cash in on the trend.  They want their brands associated with Pride.

Over a million attended New York and San Francisco’s Pride events.  A Pride flag flew at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv during that city’s Pride week celebration.  Professional hockey players marched in the WorldPride Parade in Toronto.  Burger King rolled out its own Pride-themed “Proud Whopper” wrapper in SF that says, “We are all the same inside.”  How cool is that?

For the first time in 82 years, a Chicago Cubs baseball game was not scheduled on a Sunday in favor of the huge Chicago Pride parade that would snarl traffic near Wrigley Field.  A tradition of that magnitude yielding to LGBT Pride would have been considered inconceivable just a few years ago.

In Baltimore, the big debate was not how to achieve basic rights but whether Pride attendees should be allowed to openly consume alcohol during the Pride festival.  It seems so trivial when you think about it, but it’s also a statement of how much has been achieved insofar as this was the burning issue of the day.

Through the spirit of the celebratory nature of Pride around the world, we must also recognize that there is much work that needs to be done.  Nonetheless, the comparison between the conditions existing before the first Pride and the Pride events of 2014 poignantly illustrates the distance traveled on this incredible journey. 

Some Sportscasters Not Onboard with the Gay Thing

Ah those loveable Chicago Cubs!  One of the most futile franchises in professional sports may not raise eyebrows on the field but inadvertently managed to raise some issues regarding gays and sportscasting.

Chicago Pride

On June 29, for the first time in 82 years, the Cubs did not schedule a Sunday game at Wrigley Field.  The reason for this anomaly is that traffic congestion and gridlock would cause a commuting nightmare near the venerable ballpark due to the fact Chicago is holding its  annual LGBT Pride parade in the area.

The Washington Nationals—one of my favorite teams—played the weekend at Chicago and were the recipients of this rare Sunday off (as were the Cubs, of course).  The Nats’ TV announcers, Bob Carpenter and F.P. Santangelo pointed out several times from the series leading up to the Nats’ date with the Cubbies into the weekend itself that a game would not be played on Sunday because of a “pride parade.” 

There was no further explanation provided.  It wasn’t described as a “gay pride parade” or maybe an “LGBT pride parade,” just a generic, non-controversial “pride parade.”  Santangelo did admit he understands the reason for not scheduling the game but all he offered was his lament that he cannot spend a Saturday night out in the Windy City.

The avoidance by this broadcasting duo to impart the true reason for the non-scheduling of the Sunday game came as no surprise given that they never mentioned, to my knowledge, the semi-annual Night Out with the Nationals events.

But wait.  The second game of a day-night doubleheader on Saturday was telecast over Fox.  An opportunity between pitches existed for play-by-play man Kenny Albert, a son of sportscasting legend Marv Albert, and the aforementioned F.P. Santangelo doing the color for the telecast to explain to perhaps to a different audience why the Sunday game was not scheduled.  Albert described it as a “pride parade” but he hesitated before “pride.” 

It was almost like he wanted to say “gay pride” or something like that but caught himself as if he was about to drop the “f-bomb.”  It may have been an equivalent the way he paused.

At least the word “pride” was used during the week and the hope that most people would be sufficiently knowledgeable so that the dreaded “g-word” would not have to be uttered.   

The Orioles telecast on Sunday presented another opportunity.  But instead of chalking up the scheduling matter in Chicago as some form of pride event, Orioles broadcaster Gary Thorne threw “pride" under the bus.  He avoided it altogether referring to the traffic snarls being caused by a Wrigleyville parade.  Good gracious! 

Famed sports broadcaster Howard Cosell always believed that people in that profession are journalists and should report events factually and truthfully: "telling it like it is," he used to preach.  The reluctance to utter "gay pride" by these announcers failed the Cosell test.

One cannot draw any conclusions from this nonsense because we don’t know what the producers want their announcers to say or avoid saying.  Nonetheless, it demonstrates that if the subject of a gay baseball player surfaces for whatever reason, there is still discomfort in the booth, and that’s something to which we should pay attention.