Stonewall Boots Player Who Sexually Harassed Female Teammate

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The very gist of Philly LGBT athletics league Stonewall Sports is all about fun and games, but organizers drew a serious line in the sand this week when a handsy player took the shenanigans too far.

A Stonewall member who wishes to remain anonymous tells me that a male participant sexually harassed a female teammate at Tabu this weekend, when folks from the league gathered to celebrate Sunday’s opening day. The man in question has been booted from the team, which, as Stonewall’s board of directors explain in an email sent out to league members  yesterday afternoon, is the first time that’s happened in the Philly league’s existence:

Sunday was a really great opening day, with great turnout, participation, sportsmanship and care for the fields. We truly appreciate all of that. We did, however, have an incident at one of our sponsor bars after the games involving inappropriate and unwelcomed physical contact against a player by another player.  Our rules, our overall mission and our collective sense of decency do not allow for this. As a result, we have had to, for the first time, remove a player from our league due to conduct in violation of the rules. Our rulebook is clear on this.

As an organization we take this seriously and must respond deliberately, fairly and accordingly. Our goal is to keep people engaged in the organization and the community, to make people feel welcomed.  So obviously a day when we have players who feel unsafe and unwelcomed, coupled with having to remove a player, is not something we strive for. We sincerely hope and trust this will be an isolated incident and are confident that we can maintain the excellent community that we all work so hard to build. We’re looking forward to the weeks ahead and continuing to create an awesome environment where people feel safe, empowered and welcome.

The aforementioned rulebook stipulates that “Sexual harassment and/or inappropriate sexual touching of the same or opposite sex; and/or any conditions creating an unsafe and/or reasonably uncomfortable environment are not permitted. … Bullying is never permitted … This section applies to all League games and extends to all League-affiliated events, including (but not limited to) post-game events at Sponsor locations.”