Subscribe to Breaking NewsT-shirt retailers using homophobia to make money
Thanks to Chicago Sun-Times columnist and film critic Richard Roeper, a very ugly practice has come to light. T-shirt companies trying to make a buck off of the cross town rivalry between the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs baseball teams have resorted to homophobia and racism to stimulate sales.
The Chicago White Sox won a World Series and a championship parade while the Chicago Cubs haven’t and “only” had a gay parade. Can you guess which is good and which is bad?
Roeper recently attended a White Sox game where he frequently saw the above t-shirt (as well as a version sold as a bumper sticker) worn by White Sox fans. Said Roeper:
The signs, T-shirts and bumper stickers are literally a sign of the times. … but the explicit message in the parade “joke” is that it’s a putdown to call someone gay.
I see this all the time in the chat boxes in the online poker tournaments. A player will lose a hand, and he’ll call his opponent “gay” or a “homo.” It’s never intended as a compliment. Nobody says, “Wow, you’re a great player. You must be gay!” It’s always, “What a stupid bet, you gay douchebag.”
The comments on the Sun-Times site run the gamut from those who get the blatant homophobia to those who tell Roeper to lighten up to those who insist the word “gay” has nothing to do with gay people. It just means lame, dumb or stupid. If you don’t understand that, you’re just gay.
Given that the above shirt clearly shows two men together under a rainbow flag, I’m not sure how folks can honestly make the claim that the word gay has nothing to do with actually being gay, but they do. People are pretty great about rationalizing their behavior after all.
Perhaps they’d understand the issue better if we went around using their actual names as a putdown for a week. “I hate my boss. He’s so Tony.” That red, purple and mango dress is soooo Hank!”
Of course, as GLSEN has so admirably made clear, the use of the word “gay” to mean anything other than gay people (or if you’re English or over eighty “happy”) is inexcusable and shouldn’t be tolerated by anyone.
At least one organization is urging folks to get in touch with the retailers to encourage them to stop selling the shirts. AfterElton.com has contacted both retailers requesting comment, but has yet to hear back. I suspect it’s going to take more than just some angry gay folks getting in touch to make a difference.
Perhaps the Cubs and White Sox could team up to denounce sales of the shirts and fans who wear them to games.
Gosh…heterosexuals are soooooo gaaaay!
Menstruator,
How many brooms to do you possess? I bet you are ready to fly around on one right now while cackling and screeching your head off now that you’ve risen off your bed of nails.
Homophobia in sports is no shocker, it’s one of the reasons I stopped enjoying the NY Rangers.
what to do?
Many stadiums do gay day, why not guirella gay day? All local gays go to the stadium on a specific day and show the hetties how we roll. Orgies in the bathroom? Same sex kissing by the nacho stand… Or my personal favorite, letting all the hetero adults w/ kids there that their children will turn out gay.
A better analogy would be the word “Jew”. When used in its descriptive form, no one is ever offended by it. But when used as a synonym for someone who is greedy and conniving, it is extremely offensive.
Using the latter form is now uncommon in American English due to the efforts of the Anti-Defamation League. Unfortunately, the ADL’s campaign was so effective that for about 80 years people were hesistant to say “Jew” at all, even in its non-offensive form.
Still, our advocacy organizations (particularly the ones that work to prevent homophobia) should take a similar approach. What we are should not be callously used as a synonym for stupidity.
John Said:
“…and then listen to the hoards who wonder why heteros *do not* take same-sex “protests” seriously.”
fixt
I am unable to sympathize with anyone who continues to identify with a word used by heteros to mean lame, stupid and weak while promoting the usage of the word “straight” as a label for heteros, wherein the reference not only draws from synonyms such as accurate correct and proper, but places all those who aren’t “straight” as the opposites.
Nor will I entertain the grievances of people who wear pink and wield rainbow colored flags as protest because some fuckwit thinks it looks festive and happy and then listen to the hoards who wonder why heteros do to take same-sex “protests” seriously.
I say again: burn your rainbows where the heteros can see it, abstain from the gay and straight monikers and stop singing and dancing in the street and calling it protest. Language is the everyday advertisement of ideas. If you refuse to participate in its evolution, dont cry about how its being used.
If you socially identify with a sexual preference and call it “gay culture”, youve alienated yourself. Tolerance is not a dignified goal and equality is a prize for the doomed.
Demand more; demand better. Receiving it is not as important as expecting it; expecting it is not as important as enforcing it.
People would not be as quick to use ‘gay’ as a euphemized pejorative if we had spent less time trying to suppress the term ‘faggot’ and more time levying swift physical consequences to the degradation either term implies.
It just reeks of trashy, South Side homophobia (I live in Chicago and know what that looks like). But freedom of speech is the most valuable thing we have. Garbage like this, and the low-lifes who propagate it, are exposing themselves for what they are. I bet many people at the ballpark are ashamed of their fellow fans when they see them wearing this.
I did a WHOIS for http://www.crosstowntees.com and found it hosted at Godaddy.com. The GoDaddy Terms of Service states:
“…Except as set forth below, Go Daddy may also cancel Your use of the Services…if You are using the Services, as determined by Go Daddy in its sole discretion, in association with spam or morally objectionable activities. Morally objectionable activities will include, but not be limited to:
activities designed to defame, embarrass, harm, abuse, threaten, slander or harass third parties;
activities prohibited by the laws of the United States and/or foreign territories in which You conduct business;
activities designed to encourage unlawful behavior by others, such as hate crimes, terrorism and child pornography;
activities that are tortuous, vulgar, obscene, invasive of the privacy of a third party, racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable;
activities designed to impersonate the identity of a third party;
illegal access to other computers or networks (i.e., hacking)…
…activities designed to harm or use unethically minors in any way; and
activities associated with the sale or distribution of prescription medication without a valid prescription.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, in the event Go Daddy cancels Your Services…
…In the event Go Daddy deletes Your Services because they are being used in association with spam or morally objectionable activities, no refund will be issued. You agree You will not be entitled to a refund of any fees paid to Go Daddy if, for any reason, Go Daddy takes corrective action with respect to Your improper or illegal use of its Services.”
Crosstown Tees also has a tee shirt with “Green Gay Fudge Packers” amongst its’ fine selection of crap.
Contact GoDaddy and complain. Don’t whine – DEMAND but be polite and clearly state your concerns about one of their clients they host. GoDaddy is not the culprit here. They only host the domain name but (unconfirmed) GoDaddy may also host Crosstown’s website, as many hosting services offer a free website for clients. It’s worth a shot, gang.
http://www.chicitytees.com domain name forwards to a page hosted by Yahoo E-Commerce. Contact Yahoo directly and complain. Refer to Yahoo’s Terms of Service (TOS) Violation clause:
7.2 Prohibited Uses
In addition to those matters set forth in the Yahoo! Policies, You shall not post, transmit, retransmit, or store material on or through any of the Services which, in the sole judgment of Yahoo! (i) is in violation of any local, state, federal, or foreign law or regulation, (ii) is threatening, obscene, indecent, defamatory, or that otherwise could adversely affect any individual, group, or entity (collectively, “Persons”), or (iii) violates the rights of any person, including rights protected by copyright, trade secret, patent, or other intellectual property or similar laws or regulations including, but not limited to, the installation or distribution of “pirated” or other software products that are not appropriately licensed for Your use. You agree that you will NOT knowingly use the Service, among other things, to:
(a) upload, post, email, transmit, or otherwise make available any content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable…
Maybe, enough folks pointing out the possible violation of the TOS will prompt Yahoo to offline the website by Yahoo until Chi-City complies by removing the offensive products.
At least, we can try and make Chi-City scramble to get another website, if Yahoo weighs in on them. Should Chi-City switch webhosts, then, we just keep tracking them down like vermin.
VERY surprising to see something like this in a city as progressive as Chicago.
Get Sarah’s attorney to sue ‘em.
Call a jouranlist a “f….ng.f.g”
Reply to Hannah,
Well, nothing like sportsmanslike conduct, eh, manager?
Thanks for the tip. If I ever come to Chicago I will avoid the White Sox because of their uncouth and homophobic T-Shirts as well.
Well, I have been fighting the pharse “that’s gay” for years now. If you find yourself in a situation that were someone is using the word gay to describe something in a negative way, just do what I do. I turn around and say “really I didn’t think it was that cool”. I will tell you it will stop someone dead in there tracks the first time. I really make them think about how they are using the word and who you are (that is if you are out of the closet with the individual).
The other thing that I have found that really makes people stop and think is to start using the the phrase “that’s so straight”. Let me tell you not only to people stop and think about it, most of the time you will get a laugh out them.
Because really people it is about education, not confrontation. I start these little trick about 4-5 years go and at one point had a whole office using the phrase “that’s gay” to compliment someone or something.
Try it out, you just might be surprised.
Obama’s home town. Who would have thought it possible? Don’t worry about a silly t-shirt. Worry about a promise-breaker; how is the DOMA repeal going, huh?
We live in a world of exploitation. This does not surprise me. My niece and nephew call each other “gay” all the time. I CAN NOT allow any of this to offend me, it is dumb and juvenile. It just shows that the mid-west is still catching up to the coasts.