Gay Man's T-Shirt Got Him Booted from Gym

A California gym canceled a gay man's guest membership over a novelty T-shirt advertising for a date.

The Sacramento Bee reported that David Cano had made two shirts reading, "I Need a Man or A Date. Serious Inquiries Only." The shirts also listed his phone number.

When Cano wore the shirt to the California Family Fitness Center, the Bee reported, members complained and the management phoned Cano to ask him to refrain from wearing the shirts to the facility.

Cano refused, said Russ Kuhn, the company's co-president. "His response was he was going to wear it anyway and we'd have to drag him out," according to Kuhn.

In response, the club canceled Cano's guest pass. Said Kuhn, "We didn't want him making a scene at the club," and added, "If somebody's not willing to follow the rules, they're not entitled to use the facilities."

The gym's reason for revoking Cano's guest pass is that Cano, by wearing the shirts, was engaging in "disorderly conduct."

Cano sees it differently, reported the Bee. To him, it's an issue of free speech and of discrimination against gays.

Said Cano, "There had to be some straight guys who had a problem with my shirt."

Continued Cano, "If it was a straight woman who wore that shirt, straight guys wouldn't have a problem with it," the Bee reported.

Cano went on, "I think the gym has a problem. They're very bigoted and discriminatory."

Added Cano, "They don't like openly gay men."

Kuhn chalked up the gym's response not to anti-gay sentiment, but to a wish to maintain a "family" setting at the gym.

Said Kuhn, "We're a family facility and not a dating service."

Kuhn continued, "We wouldn't let someone wear a shirt saying 'I'm looking for a man,' or for a woman, or, for that matter, for a child," reported the Bee.

Added Kuhn, "It has nothing to do with Mr. Cano as an individual. It has to do with making it a fun, safe family atmosphere."

Kuhn went on, "We have kids there all day."

The Bee reported that the gym's rules do require "appropriate attire," but that requirement is not spelled out.

The legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, Alan Schlosser, was quoted by the Bee as saying, "If they could show they have a rule that prohibits any socializing that leads to dating, that would be different."

Continued Schlosser, "Here, I think, the fact that some people find dating by gay people upsetting is not a basis for discriminating."

Schlosser added, "And calling it a 'family center' doesn't give them a license to discriminate."

According to state law, it is illegal to discriminate based on sexual orientation. However, the issue of free speech is another matter, reported the Bee.

Said Schlosser, "The Constitution doesn't apply here. It's a private club, not the government."

T-shirt imbroglios have arisen more often in high schools, where students have been sent home or even suspended for wearing pro-gay messages.

Despite a Supreme Court finding that students do have a right to freedom of expression, school authorities typically punish students who wear shirts with GLBT messages under the rationale that the messages will prove to be "disruptive" to the learning environment.

As previously reported at EDGE, a high school student in Spencer, NY, was sent home by school officials for wearing a shirt reading, "gay? fine by me" last September.

The shirt's slogan was originated at Duke University in 2003, where students created and distributed T-shirts as a means to counter anti-gay prejudice.

Heather Farnham, a student at Spender-Van Etten High School in Spencer, was sent home under the provision in the law that says school officials may ban clothing that is likely to disrupt the school environment.

The school board's attorney, Jim Young, later conceded that sending Farnham home was "a mistake" that arose from the school's principal, Anne Sincock, misconstruing that provision in the law.

Young explained that courts have found that messages that promote the use of controlled substances or alcohol, are vulgar, or attack certain classes of people can be banned by school officials.

However, such messages would have to take a certain character: Young did not believe that "God hates gays" would stand up to the test of what is protected speech, according to the Ithaca Journal, whereas the slogan, "gay? not fine by me" would still be a legally acceptable message.

A case very much like that hypothetical anti-gay T-shirt did in fact take place, when a student named Tyler Chase Harper was sent home for wearing a T-shirt bearing a message critical of his school's acceptance of GLBT students.

Harper, a Christian, sued the school, but because he had graduated, a federal judge found that his lawsuit, based on a claim that Harper's freedom of speech and freedom of religion had been infringed upon, could not go forward.

The U.S. Supreme Court later sided with the federal judge.

But T-shirt fracases are not limited to schools. Last year in Australia, a traveler on his way back to London was not allowed to board his flight because he was wearing a T-shirt with the image of George W. Bush and the words "World's #1 Terrorist."

Allen Jasson was told he must remove the shirt before he could board the plane because the T-shirt constituted a security threat.

With respect to the California gym that revoked his guest pass, Cano said, "Disorderly conduct is a pretty heavy statement."

Continued Cano, "I haven't had any disorderly conduct. I haven't caused any problems. They're just trying to spin it so I don't sue."

Said Kuhn, "Freedom of speech is okay, but not in here, if it's offensive," reported the Sacramento Bee.

Added Kuhn, "We're very diverse and we cater toward everybody. I wouldn't let somebody wear a shirt that would offend Mr. Cano's orientation."