Implicitly acknowledging the existence of gay athletes, Major League Baseball is about to beef up its policy prohibiting antigay harassment and discrimination in the workplace. MLB will be distributing a workplace code of conduct to every player in the major and minor leagues, providing new traning sessions and create a central complaint system to report offenses. The new policy is scheduled to be announced in conjunction with All-Star activities on Tuesday.
MLB already has a nondiscrimination clause in its collective bargaining policy, so the latest move isn’t exactly new. But it is a high-visibility recognition of the existence of gay athletes, even if there are no out MLB players. The pertinent players are falling all over themselves with carefully worded statements proclaiming baseball to be a haven of nondiscrimination.
“We welcome all individuals regardless of sexual orientation into our ballparks, along with those of different races, religions, genders and national origins,” Selig stated. “Both on the field and away from it, Major League Baseball has a zero-tolerance policy for harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation.”
The MLB announcement follows a similar agreement with the National Football League that was negotiated by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Schneiderman was also instrumental in drafting the MLB policy.
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If a poll this year is any indication, MLB has its work cut out for itself. Only five percent of players admit to knowing a gay player, while nearly half owned firearms. Not exactly the most promising field for a gay player to play on.
ca
Interesting spin there at the end; you seem to be drawing a correlation between gun ownership and intolerance…unfortunate, if true. I prefer the take over at Outsports; more positive, especially when you consider that they announce this as millions of fans, including many children, are listening and learning. Good job, MLB!
Jackhoffsky
that IS an interesting spin there at the end… however, MLB players do not get in trouble with their firearms near as much as NFL players… so…
Otherwise, this is such a good thing for all major leagues. It’s really forward of the MLB taking such a big step like this. Awesome.
Merv
If you build it, they will come.