Statement from the #Padres regarding tonight's National Anthem: pic.twitter.com/KAKUAjlg6W
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) May 22, 2016
The San Diego Padres apologized to a gay choir, whose members said they were humiliated following a bungled performance of the national anthem before a game. The San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus was brought in to sing “The Star Spangled Banner” before the team’s matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Petco Park on Saturday. A recording of the choir was supposed to play over the loudspeakers, but a recording of a woman singing the anthem sounded instead, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. “No attempt was made to stop the recording and start over,” the chorus wrote on its Facebook page on Sunday. “No announcement of apology was made to the singers or their friends and families in the stands.”
I’m not gay, so I have no idea of what it’s like to endure the discrimination- both overt and subtle- that’s part and parcel of the experience shared by many of my LGBT friends. I don’t know what it’s like to be thought of as “less than”- at least not in that context. I don’t know how it feels to be looked at differently, to know that others feel compelled and justified to judge those who travel a different path for how and whom they choose to love. I’ve never experienced the opprobrium of those who stereotype and belittle those they can’t be bothered to understand.
One of the things I’m grateful for is that my parents taught me that people are people, that who I am, what I believe, and/or how I live my life makes me no better or worse than anyone else. I grew up believing that people didn’t have to be like me in order for me to respect their humanity and treat them with dignity and respect. Not that I don’t have my prejudices, of course; I’m as human as anyone. That said, equality and respect have always been the cornerstones of my personal philosophy. I’ve never been able to wrap my head around the idea that someone can feel justified in thinking less of- or even discriminate against- another person because of who they are.
Call me naive, but I would have thought that, here in the 21st century, we would have been able to move past cheap, petty, passive-aggressive displays of disrespect and homophobia by now. Once again, it appears I’ve been proven wrong. Congratulations to the San Diego Padres for demonstrating that, no matter how much progress we think may have been made, there’s still a very long way to go.
The chorus said it then suffered homophobic abuse from fans as the singers were escorted from the field.
The choir said the incident raised “serious questions about homophobia within the San Diego Padres organization and its relationship with the LGBT community.” The choir claimed the incident followed “several days of troubling comments and behavior” from within the baseball team, which tried to prevent the singers from performing unless they each bought a ticket to the game. That decision was later overturned.
Part of the reason this incident is particularly troubling to me is that I have a good friend who’s the executive director of a gay men’s choir in a large Midwestern city. He loves his job; he’s found his calling in growing the chorus into a large and well-respected community organization that does yeoman’s work as an ambassador for the LGBT community. Like anywhere else, though, acceptance has not always been easy to come by. When the local Major League Baseball team asked them to sing the National Anthem before a game, it was made clear that each member of the chorus and support staff would be required to purchase a ticket for the game- something not normally required of other groups and/or individuals brought in for similar performances. Whether it was subtle discrimination or merely ham-handedness, it didn’t take much to understand the implied message.
Eventually, the team dropped its ticket purchase requirement, but I was struck by how even today, there are still subtle ways in which organizations treat the LGBT community as “less than.” It may not have been an intentional slight, but the result was the same; the team had a different standard for gays than other individuals or groups performing for them.
I don’t know what transpired in San Diego that led to this unfortunate incident, but it’s not a stretch to call the Padres’ reaction inadequate and insensitive. If nothing else, why would a business like the San Diego Padres alienate potential paying customers, which is part of what the LGBT community represents? Gays can be and are baseball fans; they buy tickets and merchandise and attend games…and this is the offhanded manner in which the Padres choose to treat customers? Somehow a mere pro forma apology seems inadequate to the task of reaffirming the team’s (and that of Major League Baseball) commitment to respecting and honoring diversity.
The more things change….
Stay classy, indeed.
