New York Yankees Put a Stop to Homophobic Fan Song

Who would have thought that the song "YMCA" by the iconic Village People could be turned into a cruel and homophobic chant during baseball games? Yet that's exactly what happened at Yankee Stadium, as a hardcore group of Yankee fans would turn their ire toward fans of opposing teams, and blast them with a version of the song that would make Fred Phelps jump for joy.

As we noted the other day, the song (captured on YouTube, and sung most recently during the Yankees playoff series against the Minnesota Twins) played off of the tired and offensive stereotype that all gay people are diseased.

"Gay man, get up off of your knees / I said gay man, you will catch a disease / I said gay man, don't touch me please / because you have got a disease," the fans sing. Then, taking the chorus to "YMCA," they up the homophobia a notch.

"Why are you gay? / I saw you sucking some d-i-c-k."

Folks were outraged after the performance was caught on camera, and revelations began to surface that fans in a certain section of the stadium have been singing this tune for years. Scores of folks respondedby emailing the Yankees senior public relations person, and gay rights activist Sean Chapin put together an outstanding video showing how homophobic rhetoric like this leads to a culture that fosters anti-gay bullying and LGBT suicide.

The Yankees have responded, and they've responded loud and clear: homophobia like this will not be tolerated in their stands.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) did some outreach to the team, urging them to pay attention to the LGBT community's outrage and help put a stop to the song.

"Yankees spokesperson Alice McGillion told us 'the Yankees have zero tolerance for this and any kind of abuse,'" GLAAD said in a statement this afternoon. "[McGillion] said that security in the bleacher sections of the stadium will warn fans, before 'YMCA' is played, that any type of homophobic abuse 'will not be tolerated' and she assured us that any fans who take part in this ugly bullying will be ejected from the game."

Sounds like a more than adequate response to a chilling and cold display of homophobia.

Even this Red Sox fan can give the Yankees (or at least the folks in their front office) some love this afternoon.

Photo credit: Marianne O'Leary

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.