Lesbian Baseball Fans Upbraided by Security Guard at Park

A lesbian couple found themselves on the receiving end of an anti-gay lecture from a security guard after they shared a brief kiss at Target Field Stadium in Minnesota during a May 27 Twins home game against the L.A. Angels.

The guard, who was not named, told Taylor Campione and Kelsi Culpepper that they had to "adhere to the 10 Commandments" if they were going to be in the ball park, reported City Pages on June 16.

The guard also reportedly told the women that "[W]e don't play 'grab ass' here," the article said.

Twins spokesperson Kevin Smith said that the guard's conduct was "unacceptable," and told the press that he had been reprimanded for harassing the women, but not fired.

"That security guard has received both a verbal and written reprimand that will be put in his personnel file, and he understands that that is not an acceptable behavior."

The guard's initial harangue was targeted at Campione. Culpepper had given her a brief buss before heading into the ladies' room just after the couple entered the stadium. The guard approached Campione, shaking his head and telling her, "I saw you kissing that girl, you can't do that."

Campione begged to differ. The guard grew more abusive.

"Well, we don't play 'grab ass' here," he said.

Upon hearing about the exchange, Culpepper called the guard out for his remarks. According to Culpepper, the guard then repeated the "grab ass" comment, and followed up with a reference to the Old Testament.

"Then he said, 'Well here in the stadium, we adhere to the 10 Commandments,' " Culpepper recounted. "After that, I decided I was no longer going to speak with him, and I asked for his manager."

In addition to saying that the guard had been reprimanded, Smith noted that the guard had an unblemished job record from his 10-year stint working for the ball team.

The couple was not appeased. They are pursuing the matter through the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, claiming that they had suffered anti-gay discrimination at the stadium.

"I want a zero-tolerance harassment policy instituted at Target Field," Culpepper told the media.

About five weeks before the incident at Target Field, Atlanta Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell hurled anti-gay abuse at several fans and then, when a father whose young daughters were present objected, allegedly menaced the man with a baseball bat. That incident took place at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Fresno resident Justin Quinn was at batting practice at AT&T Park with his wife, twin 9-year-old daughters, and other relatives, when McDowell allegedly began to hurl homophobic abuse at several men in the stands.

An April 28 Associated Press report said that McDowell yelled at the men, "Are you guys a homo couple or a threesome?" McDowell then used a baseball bat to mime in a sexually suggestive manner.

When Quinn called out that there were children present, the response he reportedly got from McDowell was that "Kids don't fucking belong at the baseball park." McDowell then allegedly approached Quinn, baseball bat still in hand, and asked the father, "How much are your teeth worth?"

At that point, Quinn told the media, his children became terrified that their father was about to be beaten.

"My kids are in panic mode ... they're like grabbing onto me," Quinn told the AP. "I'm talking to him, trying to calm him down and the kids are screaming."

With fans booing and taking their children away from the scene, McDowell eventually left. Quinn reported the incident right away, first to a Giants staff member, and then to the San Francisco police.

McDowell eventually apologized.

In October of 2010, a lesbian couple were ejected from Baltimore sports park M&T Bank Stadium after a security guard saw them sharing a kiss as they stood in line for snacks, according to a Lesbilicious article.

Mary Kate Morries and Nicole Marchetto were told to stop kissing, but ignored the order from the guard, who then ordered them to vacate the premises. When the women demanded a reason for their ejection, the guard claimed that they had stolen their drinks. A policeman was then consulted, and receipts produced proving that the women had not stolen anything, but they were escorted from the stadium all the same by several uniformed officers.

Three years ago, another lesbian couple was tossed out of Seattle's Safeco Field for sharing what they said were "pecks." Stadium personnel accused the women of "making out," a May 30, 2008, ABC News reported, and ejected them.

"We were acting the same as any other dates that were out there, except we were a lesbian couple," said Sirbrina Guerrero, who was thrown out of the stadium along with her unnamed partner.

"When you bring a date to a game, you kiss once in a while," Guerrero added. "But it's not like we were making out. We were just kissing as regular couples do. I would never make out with anyone at a baseball game."

Some readers of the City Pages article took the report of the Target Field Stadium incident as a teaching moment as to what directives the 10 Commandments contain, and what they do not.

"Which commandment did this couple violate?" queried one reader in the comments section.

"I believe it's the commandment after the right to bear arms," another reader responded. "Perhaps you should try reading the King Glen Beck version of the Bible. It's only $19.95 for true patriots and I will tell you it's an eye opening experience."

Others enumerated the entire list of commandments, noting that there was nothing said about same-sex couples kissing.

As readers argued about discrimination and whether being gay is a "choice," one respondent sought to interject a modicum of levity into the debate.

"Kissing belongs on the jumbotron!" the commentator declared.