On August 17, 2008 Craig Person and Edmund Yang went to the Great America amusement park and got on the Psycho Mouse ride where an automated camera took a down-angled shot of the two men holding hands. They declined to buy the picture of them after the ride, but when they encountered the same photo at another ride’s counter later in the day, they saw that some aspiring comic book artist had apparently added a thought bubble on the digital photo with the phrase “Were Fags!” The men were not amused; so unamused in fact, that they filed a lawsuit.
According to their lawyer Elisa Stewart, “They were very upset. Complaints were made early on, and at some point Great America became nonresponsive;” hence the three-year wait between the incident and the lawsuit.
But on the surface there are a few things wrong with this entire scenario:
1) The Great America amusement park should be ashamed for hiring teenagers with such poor punctuation skills. Yes, we know that the job mostly entails pushing buttons, cleaning puke, and selling photos, but leaving an apostrophe off of “We’re Fags!” turns it into “Were fags!” which some people could mistake for “Werefags,” a dangerous type of shape-shifting homo that can turn anyone into a fabulous midnight antiquer with just one Fresca-flavored bite.
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2) We’re curious what these gents wanted from the park in the three-years before the lawsuit: an apology from the Photo Hut? All-you-can eat funnel cake? A season pass to Planet Snoopy? Every amusement park owner knows you gotta give your angry customers a manager that they can bitch at or else the dullards answering your phones will just make the customers more angry by giving them the runaround for the next three years. Heck, the dumb person who defaced the photo has probably already been fired for smoking weed behind the KidZville shake shack.
3) The Psycho Mouse is listed as a “family coaster.” That is, it’s a ride for bed-wetters and moms with vertigo. Next time get on the Drop Tower Scream Zone. Everyone looks like a skull-crushing badass when they get their picture taken on that ride.
Abaca
These dude need to lighten up. If that had happened to me, I’d have laughed and asked for the picture.
Jakey
You heard it here first guys, it wouldn’t bother Abaca so therefore the lawsuit is without merit. Me, I’d probably have my nice day out ruined by strangers calling me “fag” in a public display viewable to every patron in an amusement park, but I guess I need to lighten up.
Riker
@Jakey: The lawsuit *is* without merit. What law was broken? What that stupid kid pulled was mean, but you can’t sue someone for not being nice. The most reasonable response from the amusement park would be a formal written apology and disciplinary action against the person who did it, probably a written warning. They really want money because some snot-nosed punk was not very nice to them?
John
Hey Jakey, Yeah you need to lighten up a little. Dumb lawsuits are why America sucks.
Abaca
@Jakey: I think the fact that whoever did it spelled we’re wrong is what’s really funny. It just shows how ignorant that person is. There are real fights to be fought on the equality front. This is silly and not worth the courts time.
Jean
@Riker: Civil suits don’t really have as much to do with the law as you seem to think. And frankly, I don’t care, it’s not my time. If the judge wants to take the time then let him go ahead.
ZHamm
There is nothing wrong with them cashing in. I wish I could get $1 to $10 million in a lawsuit right now. I could use the money. Wouldn’t we all like to have millions for pain and suffering if we could, especially if straights or Christian’s were treating us like crap. I hate frivolous lawsuits too. But many races and ethnicities have had an opportunity to sue bigots at Cracker Barrel for dinero for decades. People of color have had their turn and need to sue over race less. As a Black woman of Nigerian descent and a Gay rights activist, I say let “The Gays” have their turn to sue/ hit the jack pot, pull the gay card, get a gay Al Sharpton-Jesse Jackson to pontificate on TV; and cry convenient, opportunistic tears for the world to see, that can only be stopped by new money in the bank. These guys weren’t called names. They are not weak with thin skin. They don’t need to lighten up. They were publicly humiliated and ridiculed. What if someone decided to beat them up or start stalking them/ follow them home and shoot (stab, stone) them to death because of this f*g pic on public display announcing their gayness to the world? The amusement park refused to address their concerns, in a timely and professional manner, which would have been easy and free to do. The law lets them sue, I say let them collect. I wish I were part of this lawsuit. They seem to have a great lawyer. I hope gay friendly amusement parks like Dollywood (not perfect but good enough) or a Canadian one uses/ exploits them for good PR and gives them lots of freebies. I really hope Queerty or Andersen Cooper do a TV/ internet video interview w/ them so we can see this cute newly rich couple.
**Sorry for any misspellings or grammatical errors.
ZHamm
How homophobic is CA Great America park? Do gay employees face discrimination (probably)? Do gay employees get the same (or gay relevant) job benefits? Have others who have visited this amusement park experienced hatred or hostility of any kind? Are there gay park days where people who consider themselves gay and or queer (meaning lesbian, bi/open sexual, trans, intersex) get a discount and are given security in the park to bring their kids, hold hands, dance, and kiss? I hope we can get to a point were gay men can hold hands, kiss, and show affection in public. In the UK/ England straight guys are holding hands to show solidarity with gay male couples who would like to hold hands in public. Check it out. http://www.adayinhand.com/ or A Day in Hand campaign for same-sex and gender neutral hand holding.
timncguy
@Abaca: Even MORE funny is that you couldn’t spell “court’s” right. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Tone
I don’t know about the merits of a lawsuit because I’m no lawyer but certainly the two men must have felt ridiculed, even humiliated by the comment. What that thought bubble conveyed was a message of intolerance, that it’s ok to snicker at the two men holding hands. It is homophobia and the park needs to own that, the same way the would be expected to own a racist comment made by their staff.
ZHamm
@timncguy: Not necessarily a bad spelling. Courts plural not possessive is OK.
Robbie K.
You mean if they right your fat on my next bag of mini donuts I can sue…oh yeah!!
DannyB
Were fags without apostrophe means past tense. Like they were fags but they prayed the gay away.
xander
@Robbie K : Your fat to? Pleas loose wait write a weigh.
@DannyB : And “werefags” would be like werewolves, and a slightly less offensive term.
@ZHamm : Great info on ‘A Day In Hand.’ Glad to see this happening — I hope it will make it to the US/Canada if it hasn’t yet.
timncguy
@ZHamm: Nope, even if he intended it to be plural, the inclusion of “time” still makes it possesive and it should then be courts’.
Cam
@Riker: said…
“The lawsuit *is* without merit. What law was broken? What that stupid kid pulled was mean, but you can’t sue someone for not being nice. ”
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Actually publically harrassing etc… is illegal. Additionally some things we should remember.
1. The oark refused to apologize or do anything about the photograph that was publically displayed.
2. Great America was formerly Marriot’s Great America with ties to the Mormon Church
3. Please don’t try to tell me that if it was a hispanic couple and the bubble said “We’re Spics” or similar if it was Asians or Blacks etc… that the park wouldn’t have handled this immediately.
Zen
@Riker: Exactly, what are they suing for? Embarrassment? Usually when someone sue’s it’s over bills that need to now be paid, health/pain issues that resulted from some sort of incident, or defamation/damages. I don’t think any of these things were the result of a stupid kid writing on a picture.
Cam
@Zen: said…
“Exactly, what are they suing for? Embarrassment? Usually when someone sue’s it’s over bills that need to now be paid, health/pain issues that resulted from some sort of incident, or defamation/damages. I don’t think any of these things were the result of a stupid kid writing on a picture.”
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Where do you get your information? The entire range of sexual harrassment laws have nothing to do with bills, health/pain, defamation etc… That is what the suit was filed under.
Dennys was recently sued merely for dragging their feet purposely serving black customers. This is no different.
xander
IF the park had handled this properly from the start, it wouldn’t be in this position. A large % of many themepark employees are temporary/seasonal, and may not be well trained or supervised, but that’s no excuse. Time for GreatAmerica to do the right thing.
ZHamm
@timncguy: Thank you for this correction. I appreciate it.
Jean Luc Picard
@Riker: Riker is the 1950s-style homosexual who likes to be demeaned. This would be the same Riker who thinks that gay people are represented on TV when an effeminate male is portrayed.
Riker, if you want to see the legal bases of the claim, firm up your wrist, move the mouse and click on the article. CA prohibits sexual orientation discrimination in public accommodations. The park is liable for the actions of is employees, even snot-nosed teenagers. If the teen had scrawled “jerks” or “nerds” on the photo, that would have been mean but would not have constituted a discriminatory act. But according to the complaint, the employee chose to target these customers based on their sexual orientation. So it is in a different class of wrongdoing, just as it would be if the employee had scrawled the n-word or some religious or ethnic slur. (Of course, I am explaining this to Riker, who posted here that he believes that seeing a businessman on TV is the equivalent of seeing a Jew.)
The issue of damages is separate from whether the claim has merit, and on that point I doubt if the suit would yield anything more than a nominal sum. But, assuming the allegations are true, it is good for these guys to subject the park to a suit inasmuch as it will make them take this sort of thing seriously in the future.