NFL

“GAY” is now OK at the NFL Shop. 

The league reversed itself and will now allow personalized jerseys to have “GAY” on the back. This decision came one day after Outsports printed an article about the policy (see below). Previously, a person trying to buy such a jersey had it rejected with the words: "This field should not contain a naughty word." (this wording was changed in response to our story to "The personalization entered cannot be accepted."). 

Dan Masonson, a league spokesman, told Outsports that “there was no message there” to having “gay” on a list of 1,159 banned words. After being made aware of the issue, the NFL Shop will now allow “gay” jerseys, said Masonson. “It should have not been in the [naughty words] filter,” he said.

This decision seems to have less to do with any sexual orientation statement by the league and more with the fact that there is a player in the league with the last name Gay, New England Patriots rookie defensive back Randall Gay. Randall is the first Gay in the NFL since Ben Gay played for the Cleveland Browns in 2001. For example, Masonson said there was no discussion in removing “Lesbian” or other words from the list of banned words and he explained the league’s thinking: 

“The idea behind personalized jerseys is for a fan to put his or her name on the back or possibly a nickname,” Masonson said. It is not designed for political, social or other types of statements.  

Outsports came up with a variety of seemingly offensive personalized jerseys (see bottom of this page) that were allowed to be purchased, such as “Hitler,” “Fag,” “Dyke” or “Terrorist.” Readers came up with their own, including “Anti Gay.” But Masonson said he doubts that such jerseys could actually be purchased. (March 3 update: In the two days since we first published this story, "Bin Laden," "Binladen," "Gay Nazi" and "gaynazi" have been added to the banned list.).

The NFL Shop uses three levels of manual checks to make sure a personalized jersey meets the league’s guidelines, Masonson said. He used the example of “Terrorist” as a jersey that could make it through the online screening only to be flagged by an NFL Shop employee and rejected.

The league’s response is a quick change from just a day earlier when a gay man named Barry Gay had a request for a jersey with his last name rejected. He received a rather insulting response when he complained that said (italics mine): "In the few cases that may arise with someone abusing certain words or names the NFL does not wish to be associated with any derogatory use of language or words. I am sorry for the inconvenience.  Unfortunately there is no way around this issue." The league owes Barry Gay an apology and should send him a jersey gratis.

I understand the league has the right to control what goes on its officially licensed products and applaud them removing “gay” from the list after realizing the absurdity of, in essence, singling out one of its players. (Although a reader points out that you can't buy a Jets jersey with "TONGUE" on it, even though there is a Jets player named Reggie Tongue. This shows how dumb their filter is). But it still rankles to see “Lesbian” on a list of banned words and to realize that at some point “gay” was considered off-limits. Masonson did not know the inner workings of how the list was compiled or updated. 

In response to my original article (see below), I spoke with a technology consultant who helped the NFL set up its online shop in about 1997.

"I did technology strategy at IBM while we were building the custom jersey ordering system for the NFL,” said the consultant, who asked that his name not be used.  “We tried to tell them that a naughty word filter was a bad idea because it was impossible to catch everything and you'd keep people from ordering legitimate names (like Gay).  We had learned this lesson the hard way in trying to automate profanity filtering in online forums instead of hiring people to screen comments, but the NFL was insistent that they had to have it and it needed to be automated instead of a human approval process.

”The project manager was showing off the functionality when it was first developed and I bet him I could get an offensive jersey order through in less than two minutes.  I won the bet and it's the reason ‘smegma’ is on the list.” 

The consultant said he understands why the NFL has such a list (“They’re very protective of their brand”) but thinks there is a better way than simply rejecting an entry outright. He said a better system would be to alert a buyer that a certain jersey name might not meet the NFL’s criteria, but give the person a chance to explain via e-mail. This would allow for a person with a legitimate unique name to buy a jersey and save the NFL from “a P.R. black eye.”

March 2, 2005

Discuss this article

Original article on this issue:

'Gay' Is a Naughty Word

By Jim Buzinski
Outsports.com

To the NFL it's naughty to be "GAY" but OK to be "BIN LADEN." You can be a "NAZI" but not a "LESBIAN." Even a gay man with the last name Gay can't buy a jersey.

This rather bizarre conclusion is reached when trying to order a personalized jersey from the NFL Shop, the online merchandise site run by the league. Anyone trying to buy a jersey with the single word "GAY" or "LESBIAN" or "GAY PRIDE" on the back gets a rejection message that states: "This field should not contain a naughty word."

The wording was changed in the hours since this article first appeared and the NFL contacted. Now when you enter "GAY" and try to checkout you get the following: "The personalization entered cannot be accepted." This wording is no less offensive than "naughty" and doesn't change the issue. Especially when you can buy jerseys with "FAG" or "DYKE" or "HITLER" on them.

Someone running the NFL's website decided certain terms were "naughty," including a declaration of sexual orientation. But "BIN LADEN," "TERRORIST," or "AL QAEDA" are all accepted; just have your credit card handy (personalized jerseys start at $79.99).

This story first appeared in Rex Wockner's column on 365gay.com. It seems that an LSU professor, Leigh Clemons, wanted to buy a jersey with the name of one of her former students. The student happened to be Randall Gay, a defensive back for the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. Her attempts were initially rejected.

"The NFL Shop website said that they weren't allowed to print 'naughty words' on jerseys," Clemons says, according to Wockner. "I had to call the shop and go through three levels of bureaucracy to get the jersey."

"Clemons said site employees lifted the block on the word 'gay' just long enough for her to place her order then immediately reinstated it," the story said.

After our article appeared, I received an e-mail from Barry Gay of Raleigh, N.C., who sent us the exchange he had with the NFL Shop:

Barry Gay to the NFL: Just wanted to let you know how profoundly offended I am to learn that the NFL thinks my last name is a 'naughty' word. When I looked into ordering a personalized jersey online, I entered my last name, which is 'Gay,' in the appropriate box and was instructed not to use a "naughty" word. To add insult to injury, I just so happen to be gay, so it was all the more hurtful to learn that the NFL believes that God and nature conspired to make me naughty. If nothing else, I have experienced firsthand how frighteningly homophobic -- and stupid -- the NFL remains even in the 21st century. Thanks for helping me lose all respect for the NFL organization.

PS -- While I was trying to complete [the NFL's] name and address field below [to complain], you guys slapped me in the face yet again by alerting me that "You can't use that word or phrase in the last name field" when I entered my last name in that field!!! I actually had to change the spelling (by adding an "e" to the end of Gay) just to get your form to accept my entry. Just where in the world did you manage to find the small-minded idiots who decided for you which words are naughty and which words are nice?

Barry Gay
Raleigh, NC

Response from a customer service rep: "Your last name is not considered "naughty."  I realize it is a legitimate last name.  However, the NFL reserves all rights to what can and can not be printed on one of it's Jersey's [sic]. Unfortunately, it is the few that have made this step necessary and have made it bad for the majority of people who do not abuse the opportunity to have an item personalized.

"In the few cases that may arise with someone abusing certain words or names the NFL does not wish to be associated with any derogatory use of language or words.

"I am sorry for the inconvenience.  Unfortunately there is no way around this issue."

"No way around this issue?" Give me a break. How about creating a better filter? How about concluding there is nothing "naughty" about the word gay? This ban is both offensive and silly and unique to the NFL. I went to the online sites for both the NBA and Major League Baseball and both accepted "GAY" with no problem.

One would have thought that the LSU professor's complaint would make the NFL webmasters realize how stupid it was to ban certain words that were anything but naughty. In addition, there is a player whose last name is Gay, which makes the prohibition doubly absurd. It seems that Randall Gay fans are SOL.

What's even dumber is how ineffective the word screening program actually is. Adding an "S" to most any word and it suddenly is acceptable ("GAYS," "COCKS"). Or include "GAY" as part of many compound words is also OK. A reader discovered the list of  1,121 banned words for jerseys. Some of them are doozies (there are 54 variations of "Ass" alone) and you wonder you took the time to compile them or had such a vivid imagination. (Click here for the list).

As an experiment, I typed it a wide variety of words to see if they were acceptable for purchase. I skipped the obvious obscenities that almost any site would prohibit. I added an "X" to a jersey the site deemed to have a "naughty" word and therefore unavailable for purchase. I contacted the NFL and they said they would get back with an explanation, so check here for updates.

March 1, 2005