Here are the players (identified by name and title where possible) and what they said:
A sales representative who helped organize last year’s Gay Day for the Dallas Burn, the city’s major league soccer team, now works for the Rangers and brought the idea for Gay Day at the Ballpark with him, according to Gil Flores, services director for the John Thomas Gay and Lesbian Community Center.
No quotes but is there any reason to dispute the claims that the Rangers' staffer (ticket guy) was proactive?
Then there was this line in the article:
The Rangers donated a suite for the organizations to meet and organize the event.Donating a suit to help these multiple organizations buy tickets one one united group is a proactive stance on the part of the Rangers.
John Blake, senior vice president of communications for the team.“We’re trying to get as many people as possible to the ballpark,” said Blake. The team isn’t worried that marketing toward gay fans will hurt attendance, he added.
We do not know the exact words of "marketing toward gay fans" but it does imply a pro-active stance.
Andy Silverman, the Rangers’ vice president of ticket sales.the “sheer earning potential” of the gay community was a factor in the team’s decision to sponsor Gay Day. The gay community has tremendous buying power, and “we can’t ignore that.”
The Ballpark in Arlington has group promotions to everyone from the Jewish Community Center to the Boy Scouts, according to Silverman.
“Everyone is welcome at the ballpark,” he said.
With ticket sales down, Silverman said, the Rangers are marketing to as many people as possible.
Again we don't know the exact phrasing of "marketing to as many people as possible" but it sounds like an active outreach to draw in fans who are homosexuals (and conviently they are being drawn in on the same day).
Mack Williamson, president of the Texas Gay Rodeo Association’s Dallas chaptersaid he was “very surprised” the Rangers contacted the gay community. Members of the community have tried contacting other teams, like the Cowboys and Mavericks, to no avail, he said.
There is admission that this is a different animal. Did the Gay Rodeo folk say to the Cowboys and Mavericks, "hello sir, I'd like 200 tickets" and were turned down? Most times people won't ask "what for". Someone was looking for a sweeter deal (maybe including an announcement on the scoreboard of their group).
My error in citing Mr. Silverman seems to have caused you to disregard all of the rest of the above content in the article.
Go ahead and protest the protest site. There was no story. Some citizens bought baseball tickets of their own initiative (when the basketball and football teams REFUSED to sell them tickets just because they were homosexuals, nope no homosexuals at Cowboys or Mavericks games).
Care to tell me why homosexuals didn't go to the baseball games before this sales rep was hired?
No quotes but is there any reason to dispute the claims that the Rangers' staffer (ticket guy) was proactive?
Nope, none at all.
Donating a [suite] to help these multiple organizations buy tickets one one united group is a proactive stance on the part of the Rangers.
Yep, I agree. I'm not sure whether that happens often. It's not unreasonable to think that it wouldn't though because the Rangers have a lot of facilities that aren't used except when games are actually in progress.
We do not know the exact words of "marketing toward gay fans" but it does imply a pro-active stance.
The sales rep evidently made the initial contact and, when he claimed that he would try to sell 1,000 tickets, I'm sure that his bosses weren't unhappy with him.
Again we don't know the exact phrasing of "marketing to as many people as possible" but it sounds like an active outreach to draw in fans who are homosexuals (and conviently they are being drawn in on the same day).
I'm sure that the Rangers were happy at the prospect of selling a bunch of tickets, whether it's the 200 that have actually been sold or the 1,000 that they tried to sell.
said he was “very surprised” the Rangers contacted the gay community. Members of the community have tried contacting other teams, like the Cowboys and Mavericks, to no avail, he said. ... There is admission that this is a different animal.
On the one hand the store said it was a sales rep who contacted them (they aren't paid well -- I know a sales rep for the Mavericks) but on the other hand it says that "the Rangers contacted the gay community," making it sound like people in power made the contact. The article isn't internally consistent. I suspect the article is exaggerating here, just like it does elsewhere.
Go ahead and protest the protest site.
It's really not worth it. Rick Warden has been pretty discredited already, IMHO. So 200 gays decide to go to a ball game. Big deal. When I worked in Oak Lawn I saw 200 gays every day.
There was no story. Some citizens bought baseball tickets of their own initiative (when the basketball and football teams REFUSED to sell them tickets just because they were homosexuals, nope no homosexuals at Cowboys or Mavericks games).
I rather doubt the story's assertion that other local sports teams refused to sell tickets to a group of gays. It smacks of the exaggeration and "poor me, I'm gay" slant of the magazine as a whole. By the way, if you ever get a copy, be sure to read it on an empty stomach.
Care to tell me why homosexuals didn't go to the baseball games before this sales rep was hired?
I'm sure that they did go to baseball games just like they do other things. I was a guest at a family (not mine) birthday party 2 weeks ago and one of the "little brothers" of the family is gay. It's a heartbreak to the family but they still love him -- he was overweight as a child and was brutally rejected by his father. He's a nice guy and I've enjoyed being around him the 2 times I've seen him. He knows where I stand and I truly do expect to see him move away from his lifestyle some day because he's not happy with it. He's not flamboyant and most people would not recognize him as being gay. There aren't as many gays as they like to claim but they're still out there and, for the most part, they do the same things that we do.