Homophobic slurs like the one Kevin Pillar used this week were the norm around baseball during Billy Bean’s 10 years in professional baseball, the environment so uncomfortable for a closeted gay player that in 1995 he retired from the game he so loves.
“When I was a player, no one got reprimanded for using that word – that was the way guys feminized other men to try to be disparaging,” Bean, who publicized his sexual orientation in 1999 and is now a Major League Baseball vice-president and special advisor to the commissioner, says in an interview. “We have to take the example of how we prioritized racial equality in the acceptance, inclusion and diversity conversation in the past, and my return to baseball really ignited that the LGBT community was a part of that inclusive conversation.”
Pillar now has the opportunity to be an agent for change as he returns Saturday from the two-game suspension handed him by the Toronto Blue Jays for shouting an anti-gay slur at Atlanta Braves reliever Jason Motte during a heated exchange Wednesday night in Atlanta.
Certainly the discipline handed down to the centre-fielder should reinforce that the usage of anti-gay slurs, like racial epithets, have no place in baseball. For anyone who includes such slurs in their vocabulary, “there are ways to vent your frustration and your anger that are not disparaging to anyone that might be in the seats or watching our games or love our teams.”
But from a wider frame, Pillar now more fully understands the magnitude and power of his actions, and should he so choose, potentially impact the community beyond his spectacular play on the field. As Bean, who returned in 2014 as baseball’s ambassador for inclusion before promoted to his current role, put it: “What I hope comes from (Saturday) is that because of Kevin’s character, that he will understand the privilege that comes with his platform and that he will take advantage of that and be an even better ambassador for baseball and be inclusive of the LGBT community.”
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To that end, Pillar has agreed to undergo sensitivity training with PFLAG, an LGBTQ advocacy group that runs support and education programs. Details on where Pillar’s forfeited salary and undisclosed fine will be donated remain in the works – both he and the Blue Jays are looking to make a meaningful contribution, not just simply write a cheque – and the team is still sorting plans to recognize Toronto Gay Pride activities.
The sensitivity training will introduce Pillar to some of the advancement work being by groups like PFLAG “to allow him to gain an understanding of how damaging disparaging comments can be, especially when you’re a young kid who might be part of the LGBTQ community and can’t defend themselves the way someone like Kevin Pillar, a world-class athlete, can,” says Bean.
“We’re going to make it real easy for Kevin to sit down and get to know (the issues),” he adds, “and then perhaps from there, he would want to be involved and do something in the Toronto community when his schedule permits.”
During his meeting with media Thursday after his suspension was announced, Pillar sounded amenable to that, saying, “I’m going to do my best to turn this very awful situation into something good.”
Bean, who hasn’t yet spoken to Pillar, heard those comments and was “very encouraged and pleased” with how the 28-year-old “was willing to come forward and his apology seemed very sincere.”
“I’d like to let him know that if he has the opportunity to do some good that comes from this,” Bean adds, “that I would be very appreciative of that.”
Bean last visited with the Blue Jays, whom he describes as a “very progressive organization,” in August 2016, meeting front office officials as well as participating in a Jays Care Foundation anti-bullying event.
One possible avenue for Pillar to pursue that Bean suggests is taking part in anti-bullying efforts.
Certainly Pillar’s cachet with the Blue Jays fanbase can help him overcome any lingering anger over his use of the slur, something that Yunel Escobar lacked in 2012 when he took the field wearing eye black patches with a Spanish anti-gay slur written on them.
Escobar received a three-game ban, one game more than Pillar, a disparity that’s triggered some debate over whether two games were enough.
“Our office was very comfortable with the disciplinary measure against Kevin, him accepting it was another good sign that we could put this behind us and move forward in a positive way,” says Bean. “This was the first time, Kevin has done something like this, it was a heat of the battle moment, which is not an excuse, but different from the example of Yunel Escobar, where there was a bit of a premeditated decision … and that to me creates a subtle difference.
“Now, if it happens again, which I hope will not be the case, then you have a different kind of argument but the message the discipline sends for a young player like Kevin, who wants to be out there with his team, that’s a loud and clear message that MLB is giving him and his employer that this is not an acceptable act.”
Pillar, at minimum, will have no doubt about that from this point forward, and now that his punishment is served, he can make sure he’s not being defined by his use of the slur, but by the way he responded afterwards.
