Times do change, y'all, and it's been amazing to see so many professional athletes come out for marriage equality. Baltimore Ravens linebacker, Brendon Ayanbadejo, has long spoken out for LGBT rights and for marriage equality, and just last week Minnesota Vikings punter, Chris Kluwe, joined the fight.
Two big steps forward, and now, well, thanks to Toronto Blue Jays shortstop, Yunel Escobar, a slight step back.
The Blue Jays organization has suspended Escobar for three games for wearing eye-black displaying a homophobic slur written in Spanish during a game last weekend against Boston. Eye black is grease, or a sticker, worn under a player's eyes during a game to keep the glare down and improve their vision. Many players use it; Escobar used it for an altogether different purpose.
On his eye-black tape, Escobar had written "TU ERE MARICON," which can be translated as "You are a faggot." He later apologized to his team and "to all those who have been offended" for what he said was meant to be "just a joke."
Funny. Not so much.
It isn't a joke, and his apology was one of those half-assed, Oh, if I hurt you I'm sorry. Not exactly, Sorry I'm a douche and did a stupid thing.
"It was not something I intended to be offensive," Escobar said through a translator. "It was not anything intended to be directed at anyone in particular."
Just anyone looking at his face.
Escobar wrote the message on his eye-black right before the game, and has often written inspirational sayings on the tape. This time, however, inspiration was not his intent. And Escobar, non-apologizing, kept digging in further, buy adding, "I didn't see it as something bad at the time. For us, it doesn't have the significance to the way it's being interpreted now. It's a word without a meaning."
No, honey, it's not. There isn't a word on this plant that doesn't have a meaning, and this one is particularly hateful.
Escobar's suspension—issued after input from Commissioner Bud Selig, the players' union and team management—was to have started Tuesday night, though that game, between Toronto and New York, was rained out.
Escobar's lost salary during the ban—roughly $82,000—will be directed to toward the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation [GLAAD] and You Can Play, an organization dedicated to eliminating homophobia in sports, and Escobar will take part in an outreach initiative to promote tolerance to others based on their sexual orientation.
Hopefully Escobar has learned that words do have meaning, and can cause harm, and will go back to non-derogatory eye-black sentiments. Hopefully, he's learned to set an example, perhaps like Kluwe and Ayanbadejo.
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