What Do You Do With A "Same Gender" Doubles Draw???

Married or not, its still men's doubles.

The most recent news coming out of the USTA is that we must now allow "same gender" doubles in our tournaments.  That's all well and good and so politically correct that it is breathtaking.  After all, our goal is life is to always be politically correct isn't it???

With the advent of this new division there are all kinds of questions that come to mind.  Without sounding like an outright bigot, I thought we might want to explore some of these questions before we jump wholeheartedly into this fiasco.  Here are some of the questions:

*  If we are going to have same gender doubles why not call it what we have always called it and that is "men's doubles" and "women's doubles."

*  How are you going to tell same gender doubles entrants that they have to be gay or lesbian and be married to play in this division without being accused of sexual harassment or worse?  They can't be just dating or having sex together--they have to be married just like straight people.

*  Are we going to try to get "same sex married people" to play in the husband/wife divisions?  Can't you just see that happening?  No man/woman married couple is going to stand for having to play two men who are married to each other.

*  If you are going to have "same gender doubles" then you must specify "same gender women's doubles" and "same gender men's doubles" because you sure can't mix the two.

*  We are told not to ask for proof that the teams are married to each other since we don't ask heterosexual couples for proof of their marriage.  That's all well and good but I see some huge problems on the horizon...

*  What do you do with a transgendered person wanting to play same gender doubles with the women?  I guarantee you that two women, whether they be lesbians or straight, are not going to put up with a "former man" playing in their division.

*  There will be a shout of joy among the men when a transgendered person who was formerly a woman wants to play in the men's same gender doubles division.

Now that I have probably offended most of America, here is my suggestion for the whole issue:

Throw the term "same gender doubles" out the window and just play men's and women's doubles.  Noone cares whether you are straight or gay.  Just play the game...

Of course this comes with one special thought and warning:  what are you going to do with the transgendered and in which draw are you going to place them?

That's a question for another day but one that deserves our thought and consideration...