Roger McDowell, pitching Coach for the Atlanta Braves, has joined Kobe Bryant as a target for LGBT activist ire after hurling anti-gay slurs at San Francisco Giants fans before last weekend’s game.
McDowell issued an apology after the incident, stating “I am deeply sorry that I responded to the heckling fans in San Francisco on Saturday. I apologize to everyone for my actions.” However, as with the high-profile Lakers incident that dominated headlines only a few weeks ago, GLAAD is now insisting that a simple apology is, well, simply not good enough.
According to the charges brought by Justin Quinn, the fan who witnessed McDowell’s actions together with his wife and two young daughters, the Braves’ pitching coach made anti-gay remarks to a group of male fans and then made a series of crude gestures with his hips, using a baseball bat as a prop. When Quinn objected, McDowell reportedly told him that children do not belong at the ball park and then approached him, bat in hand, saying “How much are your teeth worth?”
“McDowell’s apology is a start, but the Atlanta Braves and Major League Baseball must take real disciplinary action and send the message that anti-gay slurs have no place in sports, GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios explained. “Professional sporting events should be an environment that all fans and families can enjoy, not a place where children are exposed to violent threats and discriminatory language.”
Barrios went on to urge the MLB and the Atlanta Braves to jump on the anti-discrimination bandwagon in an effort to make sports and sporting events safe and appropriate for all fans of all ages.
