Lesbians Scolded for Not Following 10 Commandments at Baseball Game

This paragraph tells you everything you need to know about what happened to Taylor Campione and Kelsi Culpepper during a recent Minnesota Twins baseball game:

After seeing the quick peck on the lips, the guard told the women that “we don’t play grab ass here” and that they must “adhere to the 10 Commandments” while at the stadium.

WTF?

A “quick peck” is equivalent to playing “grab ass”?

And which commandment did they break that other couples in the stadium were not?

Here’s the longer version of the events:

“I saw you kissing that girl, you can’t do that,” the security guard said.

“I can kiss whoever I want to,” Campione replied.

“Well, we don’t play grab ass here,” the guard answered.

When Culpepper came out of the bathroom, Campione told her what happened, and Culpepper decided to confront the security guard.

“I don’t understand what’s wrong with kissing my girlfriend,” Culpepper told the man.

After some argument, the guard repeated his comment about not “playing grab ass.”

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

They could’ve easily just let this go and sit down, but I’m glad they took their complaint to a higher power.

And just like other “higher power,” this one didn’t do much of anything.

The security guard has since been reprimanded, but continues to work at the stadium, says Kevin Smith, a spokesman for the Twins.

“That behavior just is unacceptable,” Smith says of the biblical put-down. “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.”

They’re downplaying this. It’s a slap on the wrist. The couple will be “filing a complaint with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights” on account of discrimination.

Deadspin hilariously notes that several commandments were indeed broken during the game — but the kiss wasn’t one of them:

Lesbianism is not mentioned in Exodus 20. The game was, however, played on a Friday and lasted until 11:31 p.m., more than two and a half hours after sunset, in violation of the Fourth Commandment. (For people with alternative Sabbaths, the series also included a game that began by daylight on Saturday and another one played on Sunday.) Leading off for the Twins was Denard Span, who once hit his own mother with a foul ball (Fifth Commandment) and who earlier this year said, “Thank God we didn’t get no-hit today” (Third).

Among the decorations at Target Field is a 750-pound bronze statue (Second Commandment) of adulterer (Seventh) Kirby Puckett.

By the way, that picture above? Probably wasn’t a good idea to Google “lesbians” and “Twins.” *Clears browsing history*

(Thanks to everyone for the link!)

Kristian

FYI the Ten Commandments are listed in Exodus 34 and they are the only set of rules that end up in stone that get called the ten commandments.
Observe thou that which I command thee this day:
behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:
For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.
Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.
The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.
All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.
Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end. Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.
Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.
The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the LORD thy God.
Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.
And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.

And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
I see nothing about girls kissing girls.
Some Lady

I don’t know about grab-ass or what the 10 Commandments says about it, but isn’t there a KISS CAM at many sporting events??
Defiantnonbeliever

“Probably wasn’t a good idea to Google “lesbians” and “Twins.” *Clears browsing history*”
grrrr, now I just have to search that,ROFL
Joshua Zelinsky

The point about the actual Ten Commandment violations is hilarious. Nitpick there: I think it would be very difficult to actually argue that the Fifth Commandment is broken by accidentally hitting a parent with a stray ball.

Note that since part of the game occurred on Friday, they managed to hit the Islamic equivalent of the sabbath also.

Historical digression: Lesbianism is actually not addressed anywhere in the Bible at all. All mention of homosexuality focuses on males not females. In fact, there was in Judaism some historical disagreement over whether or not lesbianism was actually disallowed. Maimonides, writing in the 1100s argued that lesbian sex was forbidden, trying to tie it to Leviticus 18:3 and claiming that other ancient Middle Eastern groups did practice it. By the mid 1500s that view seems to have been more or less common place.
Burt Likko

Is Target Field owned by an agency of the State of Minnesota? Is it engaged in commercial activity with the general public? I believe both of these questions are to be truthfully answered in the affirmative.

That would mean that these women were under the protection of a whole host of antidiscrimination laws, and their civil rights were violated. The guard here should be — well, not fired if this was a first disciplinary problem for him, but he should be educated that even if he doesn’t personally like seeing two women kiss, the way he handled this situation could and eventually will get his employer and himself sued.
T-Rex

Sounds like that security guard attends a branch of one of those churches that got vandalized. How’s that donation sitting with you now? I know they didn’t accept.it and its going to a secular cause but, had they accepted it you would have just donated to a hateful bigoted group. Man, you dropped the ball on that shitty cause Hemant.
Claudia

What commandment would that be? Thou shalt not show affection for thou loved one, lest thou offend a douchebag guard?
Drew M.

Sounds like that security guard attends a branch of one of those churches that got vandalized. How’s that donation sitting with you now? I know they didn’t accept.it and its going to a secular cause but, had they accepted it you would have just donated to a hateful bigoted group. Man, you dropped the ball on that shitty cause Hemant.

Ever go to watch live music and some trashed idiot who doesn’t even know how to hold a guitar yells, “Freebird?”

Yeah, this feels exactly like that.
Steve

“Thou shalt not play grab ass” must have been on the third tablet. The one that Moses dropped. Though even then, there wasn’t any ass grabbing
Larry Meredith

twin lesbians is my new favorite incest google search
Rich Wilson

‘safe search’ Hemant. Always.
NotYou007

Well if they where ugly dyke looking lesbos then the security guard was 100% correct. Can’t have two ugly dyke looking lesbos kissing in public.

If they where two smoking hot lesbos though that make meen drool then the security guard is an asshat and should be fired.
Claudia

Well if they where ugly dyke looking lesbos then the security guard was 100% correct. Can’t have two ugly dyke looking lesbos kissing in public.

If they where two smoking hot lesbos though that make meen drool then the security guard is an asshat and should be fired.

FSM I hope that was a poor attempt at humor…
Chance

Thank you for standing up for the LGBT community. There are many who are agnostic or atheist.

This seems to be better than your Facebook page where there is a well known homophobic bigot.
Bones

Since when did major league baseball hire morality police?
Vanessa

They’re downplaying this. It’s a slap on the wrist.

What, you wanted them to fire him? You want someone to lose his job because he makes an idiotic remark? Of course what he said wasn’t appropriate, but a written warning is the appropriate punishment for this. If it happens again, by all means get rid of the guy. But if everyone got fired for a slip of the tongue, I think we’d all be jobless.
ephymeris

I don’t think this is the sort of thing that needs to be downplayed. You can’t tell me the guard was unaware of the intent and offensiveness of his statements. It’s not like he even attempted to ask in a gentle manner. “We don’t play grab ass?” If I made an aggressively bigoted comment like that to my patients, you’re damn right I’d be fired and rightly so. It’s not a slip of the tongue, it’s hate speech.
Rieux

As a Twins fan and Minnesotan, this is really disheartening. It’s also a little shocking that this happened right in downtown Minneapolis, which is a very gay-friendly (and -full) city.

Deadspin’s shot at Denard Span is really unfair, though. His mother was hit by the foul ball (in a spring training game in 2010) by accident; it was very, very obviously not intentional, and Span was horrified about it. Booo.
Ben

Have to agree with Vanessa here. He was reprimanded and he (assumedly) won’t do it again. Seems to be a bit of a cognitive dissonance here: demanding the sacking of a bigoted individual who was reprimanded for acting on his homophobia, who’s sacking and loss of income would surely be more detrimental than allowing to keep his job under strict rules, but on the other hand giving money to a bigoted church who is also acting on its homophobia but who’s loss of a couple of hundred quid is a pittance compared to their greater income.

The mind boggles.
Alex

I kind of died laughing at that list, but honestly, this is just a perfect example atheists know more about the Christian religion than most Christians.
Lilburn Lowell Decker

For the record, there are THREE versions of the Ten Commandments: Exodus 20 supposedly written by god Yahweh, and broken in anger by Moses when he saw the Israelites worshipping the golden calf; Exodus 34, supposedly rewritten by Yahweh; and Deuteronomy 5, which is Moses, retelling of what Yahweh had commanded. NONE of these mention women loving other women. The Tenth does mention not coveting (desiring) one’s neighbor’s wife BUT that is because she is considered her husband’s property—listing her along with his house, slaves (servants), his ox and his ass. Perhaps that is what Barney Fife’s spiritual stepson had in mind
DA

Drew M, I try to avoid just “word up” type comments, but you nailed that one.
Vystrix Nexoth

The guard wasn’t citing the Ten Commandments per se, just asserting Christianity. (Or, one might say: marking his territory.)

Just like the Bible (and, among conservatives, the Constitution), it doesn’t matter what’s actually in it: it’s a “magic pill” that does whatever’s needed to fulfill the context it’s invoked in.
hoverfrog

“I saw you kissing that girl, you can’t do that,” the security guard said.

Actually I think she can and there’s nothing that the bigots can do about it.

What proportion of people are non-hetero? 1 in 10, 1 in 20? Meh! Whatever it is a business can’t afford to lose 10% or 5% of it’s customers or the vast number of people who support the rights of lesbians (and other groups) to show their affection for one another. This isn’t the 19th century, we know that some people are gay and we’re okay with that.
Peter Mahoney

Sounds like the stadium should host a “LGBT Pride” day to ditch the bigotry.
Alex

What really came first, bigotry or the bible?
Steve

Downplayed? I dont know. I mean the guard didn’t touch either of them or anything worth being fired over.

I’ve worked in retail for a good number of years and if I saw to girls kiss each other, went over (and before you jump to conclusions, I fully support the LGBT community) and told them they cant do that, I would have gotten the same treatment from my boss. Yes, what the guard said was worth being reprimanded for and he was. The company isn’t going to tell the press anything more than that because that’s what companies do in these matters.

I guess the point I’m trying to make is it’s not a fire-able offense. Maybe he was a employee in very good standing at the stadium. If he had been fired, I do not doubt he would’ve taken the company to court and won for unjustified termination. Then he’d have more money to give to his church.
JoeBuddha

Have to say I agree with the punishment. Getting him fired for a first offense would only feed his Christian need for persecution; maybe letting him know his attitude is inappropriate at work will help him understand it’s not appropriate period. Or not. Anyway, the next time he’ll have a prior in his file and would probably be let go.
Another Steve

Here is an interview with them and some more on Target’s reaction:

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/06/16/twins-security-guard-reprimanded-for-scolding-lesbian-couple/
AxeGrrl

That there are some people who react with anger and negativity to displays of love and affection is something that will always boggle my mind.

I just really can’t get my head around that.
Baconsbud

I agree this isn’t a fire-able offense but I figure now he will do like most bigots. He will whine to his friends and hide it when at work. When he is away from work he will continue to think and speak as he did. I would say he should have also gotten some form of counseling but if he is as hardcore as he sounds, I doubt that would have done much good.
Anthroslug

Based on my own experience working in a number of different types of businesses, the disciplinary actions taken with the guard were appropriate. A reprimand and write-up aren’t a “slap on the wrist”, they are a first step towards firing someone if a problem persists. Now, if it came out that this guy had done similar things and been reprimanded and written up each time, but never disciplined beyond that, then it would be a slap on the wrist. But based on what is described here, it sounds like the guy was told “shape up or lose your job, dickweed!”
Drew M.

Thanks, DA. 🙂
bloomc

@Alex
Exodus 20:14 You shall not commit adultery.
Plain and simple. What on earth possessed you to believe atheists know more about the Bible than Christians do? Atheists twist what they know about the Bible to back up their own case. You can never understand something that is so in depth and complex without the yearning to do so. I’ve never heard an atheist explain the Bible to me and be correct. One friend in particular comes to mind and everything he says about the Bible could not be further from the truth. He’s looking at it from his point of view, but that’s just it, his point of view doesn’t coincide with what the Bible says so of course he will disagree with it and not completely understand it.
marc

i’ve seen that commandment. thou shalt not have hot lesbian sex. i think its number 11 … by the way, any man that stops two lesbians from making out is clearly gay.
marc

i’ve seen that commandment. thou shalt not have hot lesbian sex. i think its number 11 … by the way, any man that stops two lesbians from making out is clearly gay.