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.
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.
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
these
things
in
the
next
few
weeks.”
Although
most
gay
activists
have
said
they
are
pleased
that
Major
League
Baseball
has
returned
to
D.C.,
some
activists
have
expressed
strong
opposition
to
the
city’s
plans
to
build
a
new,
city-financed
stadium
for
the
Nationals
on
the
Anacostia
River
waterfront.
The
new
stadium
would
displace
at
least
five
gay
entertainment
businesses
located
on
the
unit
block
of
O
Street,
SE.
Major
League
Baseball
officials
called
for
a
new
city-financed
stadium
as
a
condition
for
their
decision
to
move
the
former
Montreal
Expos
to
D.C.
under
the
name
of
the
Nationals.
One
of
the
features
of
Nationals
home
games
this
year
is
the
“Kiss-Cam,”
where
stadium
management
displayes
images
of
couples
in
attendance
kissing
on
the
screen.
At
least
once
this
year
the
camera
showed
two
men.
When
they
noticed
they
were
on
the
screen,
one
of
the
men
leaned
forward
and
kissed
the
other
on
the
cheek.
Nationals
spokesperson
Berry
said
the
team
does
not
discriminate
in
its
use
of
the
‘Kiss-Cam.’
Some
gay
fans
have
complained
in
the
past
about
use
of
the
“Kiss-Cam”
in
the
National
Hockey
League,
where
two
male
fans
for
the
visiting
team
are
shown,
suggesting
that
they
are
gay,
to
the
delight
of
the
jeering
hometown
crowd.
