Three bisexual men have sued a national gay-athletic organization for discrimination for disqualifying their team at the 2008 Gay Softball World Series team by deeming the three not gay enough to participate, The Seattle Times reports.
The lawsuit filed in Seattle Tuesday by the three Bay Area men accuses the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance of violating Washington state law barring discrimination.
Read the full complaint here.
An attorney for the alliance denies the allegations, the paper says.
The three plaintiffs played on a team called D2 that qualified for the 2008 competition, which stipulates that each team can have no more than two heterosexual players.
After a competing team complained, the lawsuit says, the alliance ruled the three bisexual men were “nongay” and stripped D2 of it second-place finish, The Times says.
The Seattle Weekly reports that the dispute erupted in the middle of the championship game and that play was stopped several times because of the protests.
After the game, the plaintiffs charge, they were grilled in front of some 25 people as to their sexual attractions and desires, purportedly to determine their gayness.
At one point, the lawsuit alleges, one of the plaintiffs was told: “This is the Gay World Series, not the Bisexual World Series.”
The men are seeking $75,000 for emotional distress and also want D2′s second-place finish reinstated
If you want to compete in an event called ‘the gay softball world series’, that automatically makes you gay enough.