One More Reason to be a Cubs Fan

WTF?

On Tuesday to reporters, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen referred to Chicago Sun-Times columnist and Around the Horn contributor Jay Mariotti as a derogatory name for a homosexual.

Angry with a recent column by Mariotti critical of Guillen's handling of recently demoted relief pitcher Sean Tracey and upset with Mariotti with columns of the past, Guillen said to reporters when referring to Mariotti before Tuesday's game with the Cardinals, "What a piece of [expletive] he is, [expletive] fag."

…Guillen defended his use of the term "fag" by saying this about homosexuals and the use of the word in question: "I don't have anything against those people. In my country, you call someone something like that and it is not the same as it is in this country.''

I call bullshit. Multiculturalism cannot be invoked as an excuse for using an ugly term, or a shield from criticism, especially when part of the explanation replaces the epithet with the only slightly less offensive “those people.”

I’m certainly not one of the assimilation drum-beaters who finds it objectionable that a long-time resident of the US continues to refer to his home country as “my country,” but when you’re the manager of an American League franchise of America’s favorite pastime, surely there comes a point at which you’ve got to consider America your country, too. And don’t tell me that someone who’s been in American locker rooms since 1985 hasn’t sussed out what “fag” means in this country.

Badly done, Ozzie. As a leader of a hometown team in a city where LGBT books are being burned and the whole city is preparing to welcome the Gay Games in less than a month, you need to get on board with denouncing homophobia, not promulgating it.

(Hat tip Me4Pres.)