Using
intellectually corrupt arguments to keep gay people from
engaging in a free-market economy: That's the subject of
today's talking points memo.
On July 8,
a group of gay people bought about a thousand group tickets
to the San Diego Padres' home game against the Atlanta
Braves. On the same night, the Padres were giving away a
free floppy cap to kids age 14 and under. Three nights
later, Fox News Channel host Bill O'Reilly launched into a
10-minute attack on the Padres and their gay fans.
"It is
almost unbelievable, but the San Diego Padres scheduled a
promotion for gays on the same day the team gave away hats
to kids," O'Reilly said. "So thousands of gay adults showed
up and commingled with families."
There is so
much wrong with this statement, I could have written a
chapter of our book on it. Come to think of it, I did.
O'Reilly asserts that the Padres scheduled this event, as
though the Padres decided they wanted to have a bunch of gay
people at their ballpark so they found some and sold them
tickets. If O'Reilly had read "The Outsports Revolution,"
he'd know that this isn't how it works. People in the
community, whether they're gay men, pregnant women, Muslims,
Jews, union workers or members of a local softball league,
decide they want to support their local team. Those people
then pick a date, call the team's group-ticket sales office,
and request tickets. The gay group gets the same treatment
and perks as any other group. No more, no less.
The Padres
had scheduled the 14-and-under giveaway that night. O'Reilly
wanted the Padres to tell the gay group that they couldn't
do it that night because they already had a promotion for
kids scheduled. Mind you, he had no problem with the 100
other groups that had bought a total of 11,000 tickets that
night; he just had a problem with the gay group.
In fact, 13
of the 81 home games for the Padres, or one out of every
six, has a kids giveaway. Another 31 games have promotions or
themes also targeting families, like "Teacher Appreciation
Night" and "Family Fireworks." So, according to O'Reilly,
every other group in the known universe can pick any one of
the 81 games they want to attend, but the gay people have to
avoid over half of the games for fear of kids or families
being offended.
This is all
a surprising position by O'Reilly, who is a free-market guy.
Except, apparently, when it comes to selling tickets to gay
people.
Another
part of the above statement that was absolutely ludicrous
was this idea that "thousands of gay adults showed up." It
was only 1,000. In the history of "gay days" at ballparks,
only once or twice has a group sold over 1,000 tickets. In
this case, there were 42,000 people at the game. So, one in
42 people in the stadium was gay. That's 2.4% of the people
in the stadium. Even conservative estimates put the number
of gay people in the general population over 2.4%. Petco
Park that night was straighter than the San Diego community
that surrounds it; those kids were safer from the gay agenda
that night than if they had just been walking the streets of
San Diego.
Or watching
The O'Reilly Factor. O'Reilly said, "Unfortunately there
were a few over-the-top displays in the stands, a reminder
that irresponsible behavior can come from any group." He
called it "exhibitionistic." Accompanying his words were
several shots of video footage of men kissing men and women
kissing women. If these were so outrageous, over-the-top and
harmful to our children, then why on earth is he, on the
most-watched cable news program in the country, broadcasting
these destructive images into the homes of families in San
Diego and the rest of America? Good God, what if one of the
thousands of children watching the O'Reilly factor sees
those images and suddenly asks his parents why two men are
kissing before the parents are "ready" to tell him? He might
suddenly have 2 million gay people watching him, because
they'd all turn gay at the site of two people kissing! That
conclusion, of course, is as baseless as O'Reilly's.
O'Reilly
also says, "This is social engineering by the Padres."
Again, it
has nothing to do with the will of the Padres; this was a
group of gay people who had absolutely no idea that July 8
was one of the 13 promotional events targeting kids. And
even if it did, O'Reilly's thinking in 1947 would likely
have led him to attack the Brooklyn Dodgers for "social
engineering" when they brought Jackie Robinson up from the
minor leagues.
At the end
of the night, all the under-14-year-olds wanted was to go to
Petco Park, get a free hat, watch their favorite team win
(they lost to the Atlanta Braves, 5-4), and hopefully catch
a home run or foul ball. That's it. They couldn't care less
about gay people at the ballpark. One of the fans O'Reilly's
team interviewed was wearing an Atlanta Braves jersey. The
kids that night surely had more problems with that than
anyone holding hands or kissing!
It's the
adults and people like O'Reilly who blow it way out of
proportion. Just as the Padres want to sell tickets to gay
people, O'Reilly knew he could get viewers to tune in by
painting a Major League franchise as promoting homosexuality
to their children. He got what he wanted. The next night, he
acknowledged that the segment had been "highly rated" by his
most loyal fans. But instead of taking the intellectual high
road – painting the event for what it was – he expounded on
an intellectually and morally corrupt argument based on lies
and misinformation. His loyal viewers, and I include myself
in that category, deserve better.
