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Slurs uttered in stands upset gay Ranger fans

BY ARTHUR STAPLE | arthur.staple@newsday.com

9:22 PM EDT, March 21, 2008

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New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is hopeful that she and a group of gay Rangers fans will be able to meet with the team within the next few weeks to discuss ways to prevent anti-gay epithets from being used in Madison Square Garden during games.

A New York Times story published Friday detailed the displeasure of a small but loyal group of fans who have become disgusted with the increase in the use of anti-gay language toward players as well as a chant directed at a fan, Larry Goodman, who calls himself "Dancin' Larry" and dances during play stoppages on occasion.

Quinn said she had not heard from any Garden or Rangers officials Friday following publication of the story but hoped to push forward a meeting in the near future. "I think it's good that they've taken steps, but the problem is such that the Garden and the Rangers need to do more," Quinn said.

The two fans leading the charge -- Kevin Jennings, a Rangers fan since 1993 who also heads the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, and Jeff Kagan, executive director of the New York City Gay Hockey Association, which has over 150 players in leagues at Chelsea Piers' Sky Rink -- first contacted the Rangers in November. They were joined by Quinn, who sent her own letter in January. Shortly after Quinn sent her letter, the team posted a warning on its scoreboard before games that offensive language and behavior would result in ejection.

Jennings, who said he's been to roughly 20 Rangers games this season, doesn't feel the team has done enough.

"The only thing that gets paid less attention than that warning is the safety demonstration before a flight," he said.

Kagan and his hockey league attended a game as a group in December 2005, and when the group's name was posted on the scoreboard, fans booed.

"I didn't do anything about it because I didn't think anything could be done," he said.

Jennings, who is a NYCGHA player, decided to do something after he confronted a fan who was yelling an anti-gay slur at a Flyers player during a game last season. "I told him, 'I'm gay, and what you're saying really offends me,'" Jennings said. "I turned around and didn't hear what he said next, though the people I was with did: 'Well, that's your problem.'"

Quinn thinks there can be more positive steps with a meeting. "Sports crowds are tough," she said, "but these sports crowds are made up of New Yorkers, and they're a diverse group. If the language in an announcement is explicit and clear, I think people know what they can't do."

A Rangers spokesman, saying the use of anti-gay slurs was an arena issue, not a player issue. referred questions to Madison Square Garden spokesman Barry Watkins.

"Homophobic or racially or culturally insensitive behavior is unacceptable at any event at Madison Square Garden, and we have taken aggressive steps to deal with the offensive behavior of a very small minority of game attendees," Watkins said.