Posted on 03/22/2008 9:12:52 AM PDT by Comparative Advantage
During the final 10 minutes of many Rangers home games, the spotlights focus on Section 407 as Larry Goodman, a longtime season-ticket holder, pumps up the crowd with a goofy dance.
Kevin Jennings said he stopped attending Rangers games for a month because of homophobic epithets shouted at players. As Goodman’s routine is broadcast on the giant monitors above the ice, a familiar chant picks up momentum. “Ho-mo Lar-ry!” the crowd shouts. “Ho-mo Lar-ry!”
The chant is one example of what several gay hockey fans describe as a toxic atmosphere during Rangers games and that Madison Square Garden, which owns the team, is not doing nearly enough to address their concerns.
Kevin Jennings, a Rangers fan who is gay, said he stopped attending home games for about a month this season because he felt so uncomfortable with the homophobic epithets that are shouted to the players.
Ray Stankes, 50, of Bayside, Queens, said he canceled season tickets he had had for 25 years in part because of the antigay environment.
“This is a place where I grew up, and I never really felt uncomfortable at the Garden,” Stankes said. “I didn’t wear it on my sleeve that I’m gay. If I take a friend who is also gay who, for lack of a better term, is not as masculine, I’m always sitting there a little tense. Like, is somebody going to say something to us? And it’s made it not quite as fun as it used to be.”
Other fans recalled that the crowd booed when the name of the New York City Gay Hockey Association, a recreational league, flashed briefly across the jumbo screen.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Then this guy really won’t like football, what with we call Tony Romo. (Yes...it rhymes with ‘Romo’.)
Who gives a puck?
If they can’t stand the heat......they have a choice to NOT attend the hockey matches .....
A "gay man" not feeling comfortable in a garden? What's up with this?
Yea right...if I’m ever in a gay bar, how do you think they’ll treat me?
What is really upsetting to the fetishist is the fact that his practice of playing with other men’s penises is not accepted by normal society.
There THAT is what is really upsetting “him”.
Oh no, the horror.
Gays feeling less than welcome somewhere?
If the gentleman believes that the word "homosexual" is a derogatory term, then he must not like homosexuals very much. He ought to sue himself for gay hatred.
Of course, this is more about a play for money, using the gay card, and continuing to put the false perception of widespread anti-gay bias into the media. It is nothing more.
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Unintentional humour alert.
As opposed to the WNBA games from I what I gather which are the exact opposite.
The NY Slimes is just preparing the way for Canada-style criminal penalties for “hate” speech. “Hate” speech is defined as any speech the left loonies don’t like.
one less dangerous person to worry about at a family oriented event.
Red Wing fans would never be so uncouth.
Forgot the obvious sarcasm tag.
Seeing octopi thrown onto the ice qualifies as uncouth to most.
Too late!
Wanting warm fuzzies at a truly, tough masculine sport just doesn’t go together.
Gay man surprised by immaturity of hockey crowd.......wow..........who cares?
Shouldn't the chant be something that rhymes? I still remember "Mean Gene the Dancing Machine"; "Gene the Fancy Stepper" just doesn't stir the crowd the same way.
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