March 04, 2005

THIS JUST IN

'GAY' NOW OK WITH NFL
NEW YORK — For just $79.99, NFLShop.com will personalize a replica of your team's favorite jersey with your name or nickname on the back.

As long as your name isn't Lesbian.

Or Barf. Or Pimpjuice. Or 420.

Gay, however, is now OK.

After several days of ridicule and protest from Internet bloggers and gay-rights activists, the NFL's brass gave the league's official online shop the green light on Thursday to sell personalized jerseys with “gay” on the back, removing it from its list of 1,159 banned words and phrases.

"I understand the league has a right to control its officially licensed products," said Jim Buzinski, an editor of gay-oriented Outsports.com. "I applaud the decision to remove 'gay' from the list. But it bothers me that the NFL considers 'lesbian' a naughty word and that 'gay' was once banned, too."

The league has been plagued for years by allegations of homophobia and gay-bashing, but spokesman Dan Masonson said yesterday the NFL does not consider the word "gay" objectionable. New England Patriots cornerback Randall Gay has personalized jerseys for sale, Masonson said; the league used to offer replica jerseys from former NFL players William Gay and Ben Gay. "Gay should never have been in our filter," he said.

Tongue, however, remains on the list, which will disappoint fans of Jets safety Reggie Tongue.

The controversy began shortly after the Super Bowl, when Louisiana State professor Leigh Clemons tried to purchase a Patriots jersey with "gay" on the back. Clemons was moved by Gay pride, not gay pride: her former student, Randall Gay, was a rookie cornerback with the Super Bowl champion Patriots this past season.

Clemons says she became a fan when Gay was a student in her Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies class last spring (the class, incidentally, addressed gay awareness issues). Gay, occupied by the birth of his son, fell behind in his studies, but with her help, he caught up and completed his course work by the end of the semester.

After signing with New England as an undrafted free agent last summer, Gay soon became an important contributor to New England's championship season.

"I am very proud of him," Clemons said. "It's really cool that he went from almost having no career to a Super Bowl team."

Clemons tried to purchase a Gay jersey shortly after the Pats' 24-21 Super Bowl win over the Eagles, but when she entered the last name of the cornerback, her request was rejected. A message popped up that said, "This field should not contain a naughty word."

"I couldn't believe they wouldn't take my $80," she said.

Clemons called NFLShop.com, but a customer rep wouldn't sell her the jersey. His supervisor wouldn't budge, either. Another supervisor finally verified that Randall Gay was a member of the Patriots, and employees suspended "gay" from the site's filter long enough for Clemons to make her purchase - then put the name back on the banned list.

Masonson said the league is reluctant to offer more than fans' names or nicknames on personalized jerseys because it doesn't want to offend or cross the lines of good taste. When the site was created several years ago, a dirty word filter - similar to those used by AOL and scores of E-commerce sites - was installed to keep things rated G. Other words and phrases were added after NFL fans tried to purchase jerseys with risque names or phrases.

That means lesbian, barf, pimpjuice and 420 - slang for smoking marijuana - won't make the cut on personalized jerseys, which account for 20% of the NFLShop.com's $60 million in annual revenues.

Neither will Jesus Christ, Jack the Ripper and hundreds of other words, names and phrases - most of which are vulgar sexual phrases unprintable for most newspapers.

Rex Wockner, a columnist for 365gay.com, first tackled the issue, but it really heated up after Buzinski's Outsports.com picked up the story and reprinted the NFL's list of 1,159 naughty words. "We got 208,000 page hits Tuesday," Buzinski said. "That's about three times what we usually do."

Soon dozens of bloggers and Web sites, including the high-profile Wonkette.com, picked up on the story. Yesterday, the NFL, which has been embarrassed by anti-gay slurs by Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey, 49ers running back Garrison Hearst, Falcons lineman Patrick Kerney and Lions president Matt Millen, pulled "gay" from that list.

Masonson says NFLShop.com uses three levels of manual checks to make sure a personalized jersey meets the league's guidelines, so while "Al Qaeda" or "Hitler" might get by the Web site's filter, it won't get by NFLShop.com employees.

Yesterday, the NFL removed "gay" from its filter, but Buzinski said it should replace its banned list with common sense.

"Of course," he said, "people can always just buy a jersey and put on it whatever they want."


Posted by Jeff at March 4, 2005 06:50 AM
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