Sadly, but not too sadly, I will be in New Orleans. It will be interesting to see if they can generate 1,000 tickets sold.

http://www.dallasvoice.com/articles/dispAr...Article_ID=3256

That's awesome! It's spreading! Which team will be next??? And will Outsports be represented in Texas? I'll be in Pittsburgh's PNC Park that day watching the Phils and Pirates, but a part of me will be with them in spirit. wink

This is fantastic. Best of luck to everyone involved in organizing this. Wish I lived closer, I'd attend.

I respect the Rangers for having the balls to be involved with "Gay Day" at the Ballpark in Arlington. After all, Dallas/Ft. Worth isn't exactly the most gay friendly place in the country, I hope more teams do the same.

This is definitely a great sign (particularly coming from the Dallas/Fort Worth area, as others have already mentioned) and from the quotes attributed to organizers in the article it sounds as if they are optimistic about meeting their goal of selling 1,000 tickets....another unique "benefit" of reaching this goal is that "a company has volunteered to donate t-shirts in all six colors of the rainbow. The seats will be blocked off in one section, so the group can make a giant rainbow flag in the stands" -- sounds awesome!....do you suppose Stuart Scott or the anchors on SportsCenter will feature this in their highlight package?

The only disappointing part of the story was when members of the gay community mentioned that they have tried contacting other teams in the Dallas area about arranging similar events, including the Cowboys and Mavericks, but to no avail to date....however, this is undeniably a step in the right direction and if it is successful for the Rangers you would expect to see Mark Cuban and the Mavs follow suit (I'm not sure we can say the same thing about Jerry Jones and the Cowpokes, though)....even Andy Silverman, the Rangers V.P. of ticket sales, was honest when he acknowledged that the "sheer earning potential" of the gay community was a factor in the team's decision to sponsor Gay Day and that our "tremendous buying power" cannot be ignored.

How many Outsporters from the Dallas area (or out-of-towners, for that matter) are planning to attend?....the fact that the date of the game is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 14th (the weekend immediately preceding Pride Week in Dallas) should have a positive impact upon attendance....here's hoping for another successful event!

Depends on where the $12 tickets are. wink

My partner and I already have tickets for the Friday night game in that series against Oakland. I'm affiliated with at least one of the organizations selling tickets, so I wouldn't put it past me to find the $24 to go again.

Maybe the game will coincide with a visit to Texas by George Bush, who, as former owner of the Rangers & baseball fan, would have a reason to attend the game.

~Adam

Gay Day at the Ballpark is indeed a great sign and perhaps the other sports teams and general public will take notice, especially for this the "Bible" mecca of Dallas/Ft.Worth metroplex. We have always had a presence in the other sporting events, but never as an organized "group". I certainly hope that this event will lead to a positive outlook for other sports teams to follow and accept.

I for one, am planning on attending this historic event and hope that other "Outsporters" will do the same. Play Ball! :cool:

Whoo Hoo! Good news...I've read the Chicago and Philadelphia news about their gay days with a touch of envy....although Texas not having a "gay day" event has not kept me and may partner from the ballpark this year. My partner and I will most defintely be there. And against Oakland too, so some really good baseball is assured.

This does sound interesting. But how does one go about getting tickets? Anyone know? It's only a 5 hour drive from Tulsa so this would make a perfect weekend, with Saturday at Six Flags of course.

Thumper - If you look at the Dallas Voice article, I believe Ranger's Gay Day benefits 5-6 local LGBT organizations, so I'm sure you can contact any of these organizations for tickets. Wish I could fly down for the event. Maybe next year.

Thumper,

A tailgate party is also planned. Tickets to the tailgate party are $6. It's to be across the street from the ballpark. (Ask when and if you call????)

Call 214-540-4425 (# given in the Voice article) Hey Thumper this message was also sent to your PM.

Hope you can attend and have a good time??? As the article stated the party is at the Round-Up after the game. So, baby, take Monday off.

Thanks for the info Meric. I'll look into it. Sounds like a fun time. I'll let everyone know what I find out.

Don't mind me, I'm just bumping up a topic here. Any updates on how tickets are selling for this?

I picked a bad week to go to New Orleans. :mad: I'm going to miss Gay Day with the Rangers, Texas is playing Arkansas during my flight Saturday and the Cowboys/Giants are on Monday Night Football (Parcells homecoming to NY). I've made it clear to my travelling party what I'll be doing Monday night. (Any suggestions for New Orleans take out?) frown

Hopefully the Rangers will win the game, because the Mariners need all the help that they can get!

One more thing, I wonder why the M's haven't had a Gay Day at Safeco Field yet?? I used to live in Seattle, and there's quite a few gay baseball fans in the area.

Happened to come across this great article on the Rangers' Gay Day, and the lame-ass protest against it. The writer, who apparently is straight, totally "gets" it.

Patrick Williams' \"Root for the Home Team\"

My favorite part:

I still don't get the point of all those protests against Gay Days at various ballyards around the country.

The last game I was at: it was Methodist night. Some Methodist bishop threw out the first pitch. The presence of about 30 or 40 different Methodist church congregations in the stadium was announced on the big scoreboard in centerfield. Methodists everywhere far as the eye could see, flaunting their faith lifestyle choice.

For those of you who don't know, I'm a practicing Catholic. I genuinely believe that Roman Catholicism is the one true faith. I believe that the Protestant denominations, including Methodism, are a heresy and the practitioners are putting their souls at risk practicing this heresy. (I'm not saying that their tickets are pre-punched for eternal damnation: I'm just saying the risk is increased.) Yet I was willing to sit there in a stadium welcoming a boatload of heretics, practicing a lifestyle rejected and scorned by my religious faith because I recognize that we live in a pluralist society.

Now, if I were to have children, I may not want them raised Methodist, but those Protestants had just as much right to cheer on the home team as I had. Why is Gay Day any different?

[ August 28, 2003, 08:49 AM: Message edited by: Charlie in the Trees ]

I was planning on attending the game anyway, but after reading the above referenced article, I am coming home a little earlier from a business trip so that I may also be at the tailgate party to....flaunt....uh...attend both Gay Day at the BallPark events. Hope ticket sales are doing great and even top the 1,000 goal.

Play Ball! :cool: Anyone need a date?

I am totally with you on this one CIIT - if the "Christians" who consistently oppose not only gay rights laws, but any public display of positive gay images or energy (for want of a better description) really are correct, and have the lock on the "moral" truth, how could their faith or their teachings be underminded by a Gay Day? Do they really think their children, after years of indoctrination that being gay is wrong, will suddenly give it all up and switch sides just because some queers go to the baseball game?

I think the real issue is that the anti-gay "Christians" know that the more positive and real exposure the gay community has, the more likely straight people will see us as normal human beings and not the monters the anti-gay movement needs to keep the funds flowing in.

Not everyone is happy and gay about Gay Day.

There's even a petition on their website, to go along with that lame-ass picture. The group claims they exist to "Protect And Preserve Our Innocent Youth Against The Gay And Lesbian (Sodomite) Agenda" as quoted on their website. I hope most people in the Dallas area are more open-minded, and tolerant than to sign such BS.

I am not a Rangers fan, but I wish them the best with their gay day. I have several friends who plan to attend.
Dallas/Fort Worth has a long way to go when it comes to tolerance towards gays and lesbians. Perhaps this "Gay Day" is a step in the right direction.

News Bulletin! Unconfirmed reports have the game time move from 2:00 p.m. to 7:05 p.m. so that the game can be televised on ESPN! Anyone have the real scoop?

You are correct. I got an email bulletin from the Dallas Lesbian and Gay Alliance office that it had been moved to a 7p start to that it could be broadcast on ESPN as the game of the week. No word though on the tailgate party.

Back again. I just spoke to someone at the Dallas Resource Center. The game will start at 7:05pm and the tailgate party will start at 5:00pm. I advised him the web page still reads 2p. Wonder what the protesters will do if they get there at 1p as their site says and nobody is there!

Hummer! What will happen is that the "Protesters" and their 'organized' effort will claim victory in driving away all the evil people and forcing the Texas Rangers to cancel the game aka "Gay Day at the BallPark". They will have to head back to their church for sunday evening services to give thanks and praise. Can I have an Amen?!.

Praise be Jesus! eek! They'll be speaking in tongues!

Well, as much as we have been joking about the protest against the Rangers' Gay Day, it looks like it is growing. According to the Concerned Women for America (blech!) website:

In addition, Warden is claiming \"homosexual activitists\" have hacked his protest web site:

Of course, he has no idea if it were a gay hacker, not to mention a gay hacker from Dallas/Ft. Worth, but the facts have yet to stop any anti-gay flake from claiming a lot of crap.

CWA Coverage of the protest

I know a lot of Outsport'ers are planning on attending the game, and I hope the local gay community is able to sell way more than the 1,000 tickets, but I would also warn caution. I don't need to tell the folks in Texas just how virulent some of the hatred down there can be, and it sounds like the anti-gay bigots are really trying to make it a media circus. PLEASE take care, guys and gals attending the game, these are the many of the same people that manned the anti-abortion front lines, and some of them became violent during those years. I would hate to see the same thing happening at a ball game.

I hope it's successful despite the despicable protesters.

I'd say more but it would be political in nature and that stuff belongs in the Politics & Religion forum.

They're no doubt claiming much more support than they'll actually get -- although one might expect the Fred Phelps clan to put in an appearance. In a way that would be a good thing, since their very presence would make it clear how wacked out these fringe "Christian" freaks are...

The best thing that the GLBT can do is attend the game as any other fan would. My partner and I will be there with friends, although not in the designated "Gay Day" section. Don't these protesters realize just how many from the "community" actually show up to Rangers games anyway? I bet on any given night there are nearly 1,000 in the park anyway, it is just that we will be more visible because of the pre-game BBQ tailgate and the section devoted to us.

As the plot thickens, Rick Warden, leader of the protests, sent an e-mail a few weeks ago to the philliesgayday e-mail address I had set up:

"Could you please take the time to inform us of the successes that you experienced at the Gay Day with the Phillies??? We are excited about our Gay Day with the Texas Rangers at the Ballpark in Arlington. The date is Sept 14th. We just really want to be encouraged by what happened with ya'll."

Sure seemed genuine enough. I replied and asked him specifically what kind of info he was looking for, and as some of you have experienced, I never got around to replying to his response. My first clue should have been an auto e-mail reply came from his company's e-mail address "christianpainters.com". I just checked out the website, did you know they "paint by the book"!

Is lying and manipulating to get the info you are looking taught in church these days?

Best of luck to everyone involved in Gay Day w/the Rangers. We want a full report!

Scottie, you really should send that interesting tidbit to the Dallas Observer reporter who wrote the story posted earlier in this thread.

patrick.williams@dallasobserver.com

Rick Warden is going to be on The Ticket on the Wild Ass Circus Monday night at 8:10pm CT. The Ticket is Dallas' local sports radio station. They're also supposed to have a gay sports lover and/or gay sympathizer to face off with Mr. Warden.

Yeah, they paint by the book. Mein Kampf.

I doubt they're intelligent enough to paint by numbers.

The nerve of these people! What's maddening, is that *I* am going around sending similar legitimate messages. I e-mailed the people behind the Chicago Cubs "Out at the Ballpark" asking about their success and asking for information to help me plan a Gay Day with the Blue Jays. I was planning on e-mailing the Texas Rangers organizers, too, but how will they know that *I'm* legit, and not some lying 'Christian?' :mad:

And what was the purpose of their lying e-mail? Did they expect you to provide them with some salacious details of the "successes" you experienced in Philadelphia, inside information on the 'gay agenda,' compromising photos of the Philly Phanatic? :confused:

Don't these 'Christians' have something better to do? Are there no homeless people they can clothe, no hungry they can feed? Why do they spend so much time and energy bashing us when they can be doing truly charitable acts of Christianity? :confused:

--------------

I'm trying to organize a gay day in Toronto for next year. Does anyone know who I should contact re: the Texas Rangers gay day? And given that these protest groups are now impersonating us, is there anyone that knows somebody on the organizing committe and can vouch for me, so to speak?

[ September 04, 2003, 07:45 AM: Message edited by: canmark ]

This just in.........

I found a copy of the gay Agenda. LMAO (this has probably been posted before, but it must be done again here to remind everyone of our proper way to act during these times.)
Remember Everyone, Stick to the adgenda !

I have a question for Canmark or other Canadian Outsporters:

At Gay events in Canada (sports or otherwise), are there many ultraconservative, homophobic christian types who feel it's their responsibility to gather and protest against Gays and Lesbians? You really don't hear about this type of behavior in Canada, the religious people there must be more tolerant and less judgmental than the ones here.

Canmark, you ought to try for a home plate wedding to kick things off at SkyDome!

In another thread, DallasUNC posted:

This is the funniest damn site Ive ever seen. Its almost like a bad independent wrestling show website. Oh and the guy's email no longer works, so dont bother writing him telling him hes a moron. I tried.
Protest Gay Day at Rangers Game


twin58 replied:

This is weird. I wanted to get Fred Phelps' take on the subject, so I tried going to http://www.godhatesfags.com .

"The page cannot be displayed
The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. The Web site might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your browser settings."

What's up with that? Next, I went to Sam Spade to see if the registration had expired, in which case I would have quickly bought the URL.

Why not?

BTW, isn't that a great ZIP code the Westboro Baptist Church has?

[ September 04, 2003, 07:13 PM: Message edited by: m1 ]

Yep sorry for the dup post. Anyway Mr ProtestGayDay's email no longer works. I think once the anti-gay folks get their one word in they high tail it and run. I wont even go into Phelps. What I would say borders on criminal.

If ever had the "pleasure" of perusing old Fred's gawd awful site, you'd know what the word "unspeakable" really means. Sickening.

Did anyone listen to this Circus last Monday night?

I'll take that a step further. As an Orthodox Jew, I'm thoroughly convinced that any who would put their faith in the false messiah, Jesus, are perversely mistaken. Furthermore, the behavior of the Christian church (all those denominations mean about as much as the difference between skim milk and 2% to me) through the centuries has been abysmal. But you won't find me outside any church, even Westboro Baptist Church, carrying a sign demanding the end of Christian practice in America, despite the fact that I consider certain elements the Church responsible for most of America's ills.

Hell, some of my best friends are Christians, poor benighted souls that they are. In the polycultural and polytheistic society we live in, part of the social contract has to be an attitude of live and let live. I could not function in society if I were to share Fred Phelps' attitude. I know of several communities of Orthodox Jews who do take that attitude and they generally withdraw from American society, living in enclaves with little contact with the rest of society. Those who would protest gay day anywhere would do us all a favor if they would do the same.

BTW, g-dhatesfags.com is up and running again, and it's schedule indicates that protesting at Trent Lott's church is more important than protesting at the Ballpark in Arlington. So we should not be seeing any of that crowd Sunday. I'm not sure if I'm happy about that or dissapointed.

(sorry about the rant. I was going to send this or something simillar to the protestgayday.com website, but not only have they disabled the email, but they've eliminated the address completely. Cowards)

Rats. I wanted to break the news that Fred \"Bob Hope is in Hell!\" Phelps would be in Pascagoula MS instead.

http://samspade.org/t/lookat?a=protestgayday.com says:



[ September 10, 2003, 12:15 PM: Message edited by: twin58 ]

Aw...righty then.....

Can we get back to the original posting of Gay Day at The BallPark....can not believe how much energy we have put into the Protest of Gay Day, on this thread....should it not have been elsewhere?.......

So....think the Rangers can be spoilers this weekend? Heard that Pudge might be in attendance as one of his kids is in a school function over the weekend and had asked to be able to travel to the DFW for that. My business trip was postponed....so....am ready for the pitch of the ball.....

Does anyone know if any of the designated groups with tickets will be out at the CrossRoads over the weekend selling game and tailgate tickets. Let me know, I need to make my purchase.

My partner and I will be there too. Not sure if we will be in the designated section.

Hook 'em

Have heard that many "homosexual athletic supporters" and their admirers, will be going to the game on sunday, but will not be sitting in the Gay Day at The BallPark section, nor will they be going to the "tailgate party". A gay couple, (friends of mine), stated they don't like controversy so they will be staying away from the "Rainbow" section, though they will be at the game. And this are friends who always 'bitch' about, equal rights, gay marriages, partner benefits, and justice for all, etc......hmmm... :confused:

This game is the ESPN Sunday Night baseball game, with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan. I'm watching it now... where's the gay section? Seems to be plenty of empty seats, but they've also shown families with kids (glad they didn't boycott).