Rafael McDonnell
Major League Baseball is set to ban anti-gay discrimination as part of a new collective bargaining agreement to be released today, following a request from Resource Center Dallas.
Last month, after the National Football League added sexual orientation to its nondiscrimination policy, Resource Center’s Rafael McDonnell penned a letter to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig calling for pro baseball to follow suit.
McDonnell received responses from both Selig and MLB Executive Vice President Robert Manfred Jr. (Read their letters here and here.)
“While it is my policy not to comment on matters currently on the table, I think it is safe to say the issue you have raised will be addressed in a positive way,” Manfred wrote to McDonnell on Nov. 3.
Today, the New York Daily News is reporting that the new MLB collective bargaining agreement — which is set to be released this afternoon — does in fact ban anti-gay discrimination. From the Daily News:
Major League Baseball, which saw Jackie Robinson break the color barrier in 1947, Tuesday will announce incremental progress in another civil rights issue. The new collective bargaining agreement adds “sexual orientation” to its section on discrimination, a person with direct knowledge of the agreement told the Daily News.
Article XV, Section A of the MLB’s expiring Basic Agreement, in effect from 2006-2011, states: “The provisions of this Agreement shall be applied to all Players covered by this Agreement without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.”
In the new agreement, which will be made public Tuesday afternoon, the words “sexual orientation” will be added to the equivalent section.
McDonnell has also written a letter to the National Basketball Association calling for the NBA to ban anti-gay discrimination, but he said he has yet to receive a response.
Major League Soccer added sexual orientation protections in 2004, while the National Hockey League did so in 2005.
Rafael, fantastic work!!
Sounds like it was already in the works, but hey, way to take credit for something you actually had nothing to do with.
I really wish you would check your wording. “ban anti-gay discrimination” sounds like the league is banning discrimination against those who are anti-gay. It sounds really confusing. You should simply write “ban gay discrimination”.
Joe, it does look like it was something that was already being done. Those reply letters sounds like nothing more that a typical courtesy letter that you would get from writing to almost any corporation or politician. I have no doubt that many other organizations wrote the same letter and got the same response. For someone to claim that because of their letter is arrogant and unrealistic