In an age of diversity and in a time when the USTA seems to be hyperventilating over "diversity", the discussion about sexual orientation always seems to come to the forefront. We have all heard the horror stories of the male "higher up" official who demanded sexual favors from new male officials to the lesbian chair official who could not officiate certain matches because she was trying to date the player but the issue goes much deeper than the flamboyant.
In order to keep the issue in some sort of perspective, I would suggest that we consider the following: (and this list by no means is exhaustive)
HUMAN SEXUALITY
Because we were all created as sexual beings then sexuality will always be a hot issue (and I use that term carefully). Sexuality is fine and normal but flaunted sexuality will always lead to the appearance of the "HSH".
The Dreaded "HSH"
Out of control sexuality will always produce the HSH (Hyper Sexual Human) and that's not good. We all know them and they appear as homosexual, heterosexual, transgendered, and anything else that happens to be in heat. We all know men who think with their penises and women who charge forth with their out of control libido but I doubt seriously that sexual orientation has a thing to do with becoming an HSH. In fact, I know more heterosexual HSH's than I do homosexual ones.
The issue is not whether you are sexual or not but whether you flaunt it. I can still remember my first US Open and meeting a grandmother who walked up to me and promptly put her leg between my legs and tried to kiss me--and she sure wasn't a lesbian! I do however remember the lesbian who told me that she hated all men and would do all she could to bring us into subjection. Now that's sexuality out of control...
Remember--any flaunting HSH does matter--and shouldn't be hired. Militant gays always seem to grab the headlines but there is nothing more off color than a bunch of married men (and especially old ones) sitting around sharing war stories. We have some officials in Texas that you don't dare hire because they constantly run around like a pooch in heat...
STEPS TO THE SOLUTION
Personally, I do not care about a person's sexual orientation. I do however care about their abilities to work as an official. I have a lot of heterosexual friends as well as a few gay buddies and even fewer lesbian friends, but we can all co-exist and do our jobs well. The only time I get uncomfortable with an official is when they flaunt whatever form of sexuality they espouse.
The issue with me is that I don't want the USTA or anyone else telling me I have to hire someone because of their sexual orientation. A coordinator or referee should always have the right "not to hire" someone for whatever reason they deem fit. With tongue in cheek, I would say that I have known more heterosexual men who suck as officials than I have homosexual male officials.
After all, we are "independent contractors" aren't we????
4 comments:
As long as a dude doesn't try to put his woodie in my poop hole, I'm okay.
Orientation only matters when we need to watch out for some of the over acting SHASHAYING that goes on after a serve and the pro official moves to the long line... WAIT, I think we should also look for the loose wrist over stated out or safe hand signals that have a little too much action. In truth, it really does NOT matter about who you sleep with as long as you 1, show up dressed like a dork (they all look gay) 2, make sure your there 1 hour prior to start and sit and look and talk about each other and finally 3, do your job- BETTER YET, let the evaluators watch for them - they need to find something wrong/funny.
My personal observation is the evaluators hand out Bonus points for the DIVERSITY qualified officials.
I think the evaluators hand out bonus points for a whole lot of things.
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