May 13, 2005  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR.  | COMMENTS     

A local gay sports group has approached the Washington Nationals baseball team to purchase a block of tickets for a “Night Out” at the ballpark for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered sports fans.

Brent Minor, president of Team D.C., an umbrella organization representing more than a dozen gay and lesbian sports teams in the metropolitan area, said the group would like to hold the gathering in July. Minor said he has informed an official with the Nationals’ group ticket sales department about his organization’s plans for the “Night Out” gathering but had not heard back from the official as of Wednesday.

The request for tickets for a gay community gathering at RFK Stadium comes one month after the Long Island newspaper Newsday reported that a Nationals player expressed discomfort over Cincinnati Reds pitcher Joe Valentine’s disclosure that he had been raised by two lesbian mothers.

“I’ve got nothing against those people,” Newsday quoted Nationals relief pitcher T.J. Tucker as saying. “But I don’t get why anyone would want to be like that.”

The newspaper reported that a front office employee of the Nationals interrupted a Newsday reporter’s interview with Tucker, which took place in April after one of the final games of spring training in Florida. The front office employee, who was not identified, asked that the reporter not bring up the subject of homosexuality in the clubhouse, the newspaper said.

“Makes the players uncomfortable,” Newsday quoted the employee as saying.

Moms taught him to play
Tucker was responding to comments to the news media by Valentine, who spoke openly about being raised by lesbian moms in his hometown on Long Island, N.Y. Valentine received praise from gay rights groups when he said he considers himself a “blue-state guy in a red-state sport.”

“But that won’t stop me from being proud of who I am,” he told Newsday writer Jeff Pearlman.

Newsday reported that Doreen Price, the domestic partner of Valentine’s biological mother, Deb Valentine, is an avid softball player and taught the couple’s son how to throw a baseball when he was two years old. Price later served as the coach of Joe Valentine’s Little League team and helped shape his progress as a budding athlete, the newspaper said.

Chartese Berry, the Nationals’ vice president for communication, said the team has no comment on Tucker’s remark.

“We typically like the players to talk about baseball when they come off the field,” Berry said. “These guys are not spokespersons for the team. They are baseball players.”

Minor said he was not surprised by Tucker’s comments.

“Professional sports is one of the last bastions where someone who is lesbian or gay can’t participate openly,” he said. “The Reds player’s decision to come out with his story about his moms is very helpful to our efforts to change peoples’ minds.”

Minor said Team D.C. has no plans to ask the Nationals to take disciplinary action against Tucker or reprimand him for his remark.

“I don’t consider what he said to be negative about gay people,” Minor said. “This is still very new to many people.”

According to Minor, Team D.C. hopes the Nationals will show their support for D.C. gays by cooperating with the group’s request for a GLBT community group ticket purchase.

He said Team D.C. would also be open to asking the Nationals to sponsor an official “gay night” at RFK Stadium, similar to the gay nights being sponsored this year by at least seven Major League Baseball teams.

A Web site called gaybaseballdays.com lists the teams sponsoring the gay night events as the San Francisco Giants, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Toronto Blue Jays. The New York Mets have just arranged for a gay night event, according to Outsports.com.

Marketing just starting
The Phillies, meanwhile, are scheduled to play the Nationals during their gay night, set for Aug. 18, according to gaybaseballdays.com.

“We are still in the formative stage in our promotions and group sales,” said Berry, the Nationals’ spokesperson.

“We would definitely consider doing that if we are approached,” she said, in commenting on a gay night event sponsored by the team.

“We’re only now rolling out our advertising program,” Berry said. “We have had to put together a baseball team in just three months. We will be looking into all of ...