‘Social engineering by the Padres’

July 13, 2007

In one of those Fox News broadcasts that was almost too bizarre to believe, Bill O’Reilly devoted a segment this week to a San Diego Padres baseball game. Apparently, the team hosted a gay-pride night and a children’s hat giveaway promotion during the same game, causing O’Reilly to go berserk. He called it “insane” to “cluster” gay men and lesbians during a “hat giveaway for any kid under 12.” O’Reilly reported that “thousands of gay adults showed up and commingled with straight families,” and stated, “[C]lear-thinking people understand it is completely out of context and inappropriate.”

When San Diego Pride executive director Ron deHarte said that it “was no different than any other game,” O’Reilly responded, “But you are focusing in and putting more homosexuals into an area. OK? See, that’s the problem,” adding: “You’re putting it in a kid’s face at a baseball game.” O’Reilly later asserted, “This is social engineering by the Padres.”

Some sane people apparently suggested to O’Reilly that his entire argument was, well, the unhinged rant of nutjob. It led to a great moment on last night’s show.

Big reaction to our report on the San Diego Padres having a gay promotion on the same day as a kids promotion, a segment highly rated by BillOReilly.com premium members.

Gregory Myers, Fort Collins [said]: “Mr. O’Reilly, your position seems to imply that putting gays and kids together in one place is a bad thing. Newsflash, Bill, kids are around gays every day.”

But not thousands of them, sir.

Well, who can argue with logic like that?

Spending an evening at the ballpark with fun-loving people like gays and kids sounds heavenly, especially compared with the “church nights” you see in several minor-league (“bush league”) ballparks. Religious yahoots DO regard themselves as superior know-it-alls and DO try to convert others to their misguided fantasies. I’ve never met a gay who saw as his “mission” the conversion of straights. And then there’s Matt. 18-3, the bit about becoming like little children.

  • To be blunt, I’d be more worried if the Pads had the GOP and kids in the ballpark on the same considering the rash of GOPers being charged with sex crimes (Vitters, McCain’s Florida chair soliciting, today’s NC rep for sexual harassment, Foley et al.)

  • Better to let the children hang out with a bunch of guys who use steroids, right, Billo?

    Must suck to be the defender of a dying dinosaur of a worldview.

  • If the promotion had been for a pedophile pride night and a hat giveaway for kids, then O’Reilly might have a legitimate argument, but being gay no more makes you likely to prey on children than being straight.

    But, what difference does that make to a nitwit like O’Reilly?

    As disturbing as he is, it is even creepier that he has a following of people who think just like he does, and believe whatever falls out of his mouth – most of which has had limited, if any, contact with his brain.

  • I’m sure all of us remember as kids when the gays and lesbians in our lives tried to convert us…how frightening. Um, what’s that you say? No, that didn’t happen?

    Bill, get a grip on reality already and quit screaming hysterically about your fear of gays. You sound like a little girl.

  • Bill O’Reilly is a salesman, and his product is … Bill O’Reilly. “Premium member”? Oh boy. I can only imagine what goodies a person receives for forking over that cash.

  • I guarantee any home game at Fenway features ‘“thousands of gay adults…commingled with straight families,” — and last night the Sox had their 350th straight — no pun intended — home sellout.

    And I imagine it’s much the same anywhere else. Big cities and diverse metropolitan areas are like that.

  • On July 12 Keith Olbermann named Bil O’Reily his “Worst Person in the World” for his “Thousands of gay adults showed up and commingled with straight families” crack, noting that “gays commingle with straight people every day, even at ballparks. Where — and I hate to ruin your day — even some of the players are gay.” See the homepage of erstwhile San Diego Padre Billy Bean.

    According to the San Diego Union Tribune, a Christian protest of the appearance by the Gay Men’s Chrous — which was loudly cheered for its pre-game singing of the National Anthem — drew a mere 75 people who seem to have had no effect whatever: “Official attendance for the game was 41,026, just short of a capacity crowd for the 42,685-seat ballpark.”

    O’Leilly ought to look at a poll they’re taking over at 365Gay. The question is “Who are more likely to be kinky? Republicans or Democrats”. At the moment the results show 76% saying Republicans, 11% Democrats and 13% Don’t Know.

  • Gorp could be on to something – O’Reilly’s been making way too much noise on this topic for someone who’s secure in their own sexuality.

  • As a gay man I have to admit that there may well have been some social engineering involved. It’s nice that it was used in a positive manner instead of how BO would prefer it be used (is Hitlerian a word?).

  • It’s true, studies show*, that a child exposed to thousands of gay people (2,000-4,000 gays/child p

  • If the promotion had been for a pedophile pride night and a hat giveaway for kids, then O’Reilly might have a legitimate argument, but being gay no more makes you likely to prey on children than being straight. — Anne, @4

    But, Anne… Think of the possible contamination! Those gays might have given the kids rainbow *thoughts*!!!

  • It is a well known fact that homosexual pedophiles only attack in groups of more than a thousand.

  • It doesn’t seem like the brightest bit of marketing by the Padres though appearance-wise. There’s a lot of little O’Liellies out there who think like him.

  • You folks have fallen into the trap of overestimating Bill O’Reilly’s honesty. The Padres didn’t host a Gay Pride Night. What happened is that a gay pride group bought almost 1,000 tickets to the game, and the Padres flashed the group’s name on the scoreboard, just like they did for the other 100 groups that bought a bunch of tickets.

    That’s what got all these people so exercised.

  • Whoops. My comment at #13 didn’t come through. Too bad I can’t remember what it was. It was brilliant. Something about studies showing* (O’Reilly et al) that putting otherwise healthy children in the presence of thousands of gay people turn them gay. (p

  • Okay, this is obviously some kind of vast rightwing conspiracy. Or maybe it’s the “less than” sign I hit…? I give up. This world is hostile to science.

  • Thanks J.M.N @ 17. Not that I’m surprised Shill ignored even those simple facts in order to imply that the Padres are trying to … whatever the fuck it is he’s yacking about.

    Bill recently had a very exciting* segment on lesbian gangs roving the streets of America with pink glocks, (150 in DC alone) attacking straight people, raping children and otherwise being scary.

    You think I’m making this shit up, don’t you? (Scroll down until you see the pink six-shooter.)

    The only reason I don’t laugh right out loud about this crap is because there’s always a chance one of Loofah Bill’s faithful fans will decide to make Bill proud by wiping out a bunch of people who are gay or at least fit the stereotype as presented by Fux Snooze. I guess I can always hope one will decide that Bill talks about gays and lesbians too much and goes after him.

    tAiO

    *If Exciting = 100% fact free.

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