Out at the Park with the San Diego Padres

In what's becoming an annual event, San Diego's LGBT has another opportunity to show its pride with "Out at the Park" on Sunday.  The San Diego Padres are taking on the Arizona Diamondbacks at 1pm, and San Diego Pride has organized pride day at PETCO Park.

San Diego Pride has teamed up with American's Finest City Softball League (AFCSL) by contacting the Padres and designating certain blocks of seats for purchase as part of this event.

The event sparked controversy a couple years ago, when it was planned on the same evening the Padres were giving away promotional items for kids 14 and under.  Bill O'Reilly of Fox News went so far as to decry outrage at the Padres for allowing "gay day" on the same day as a promotional night for children.  Of course, what O'Reilly failed to report - or even bother to ask the team about - was that the Padres themselves are not sponsors of this event.  Any community organization, just like any individual, can call group sales and request to purchase large numbers of tickets.  The Padres, like any prudent organization, sells the tickets because it sees dollars, not causes or political statements.

O'Reilly went on to complain that thousands of fans were in the stands, with some expressing immoral behavior in front of children.  Of course, big Bill wasn't at the game, or else he'd not only have noticed that there wasn't a disproportionate level of kissing, hugging, or verbal activity when compared to that of heterosexual couples.  And of course, he'd have also noted that there weren't thousands, but rather, hundreds in attendance specifically for the LGBT event.  Despite facts getting in the way of his Christian right-wing rant, protests ensued out front of the ballpark.  TV stations covered both the protesters and counter-protesters.  Church groups were loud but their detractors were louder.

And when the local gay men's chorus took the field to sing the national anthem, the nearly-sold out crowd gave them one hell of a nice ovation for a perfect rendition.  Even in a town with conservative roots such as San Diego, most level-headed fans in attendance realized the LGBT fans in attendance had been abused enough, and that their presence at a ballgame (which they often attend on non-designated days) was not going to lead the the moral demise of children everywhere.

Fast forward to 2009, and the event has evolved.  Now the Padres designate a part of their website for the event, where fans can order discounted tickets in the LGBT designated areas.

If you're in the San Diego area, check out the ballpark.  The team is so-so, but day games in downtown San Diego are a blast.  Sunshine (hopefully), lots of skin, great bars within walking distance, and a beautiful ballpark to walk around all add to the experience of day baseball.

And Arizona really stinks this year, so the Padres just might win!

(Photo: Getty Images)

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Chase Parker believes in the East Coast bias, stretching triples into doubles, and considers Tommy Boy to be the greatest athlete of our generation.

Unless otherwise stated, no particular sexual orientation of anyone depicted is implied or should be presumed.

Comments

[Louise]

San Diego Padres should be always competitive enough to keep pace with the others. I really like them; they’ve always been my favourite teams in MLB. Just read about them here:

http://www.padreshome.com