AFCSL News

Holy Cow! 67 New Players Attend First Clinics!

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:56:00 GMT

Two clinics have come and gone, 1 for Women's Division and 1 for Open Division. Already 67 NEW players have come out to join America's Finest City Softball League!

With one more weekend of clinics to go, we might just see even more growth! Stay tuned!

The LAST Clinics of the year will be this Sunday at 10 a.m. for the Women's Division and Noon for the Open Division.

New Player Clinics will be held at the North Park Rec Center (Idaho and Polk in North Park).

All you need are a pair of cleats, a glove and a great attitude. We'll take care of the rest!

This will be your last chance to come to a New Player Clinic for the Spring 2012 Season.

Hey! Time To Register!

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:59:00 GMT

That's right! It's time to register for the Spring 2012 Season!

Registration is now OPEN!

If you are "New" to AFCSL, then registration is a 2-step process.

1) First you have to register as a user for the site. Hover on the "Welcome Guest" in the lower left corner, press the "Register" button and follow the simple prompts. All you need is a valid email address you can access to complete the user-registration process.

2) After you're a recognized user for the site, be sure to sign in using the tab on the bottom right of this page. Once signed in, you can register for your team. Click on your "My AFCSL" tab at the bottom-left, and click on "My AFCSL Dugout". Once there, follow the prompts to register. The fee is still just $55 per player and can be paid through PayPal or with a valid debit/credit card. It's pretty easy!

If you have any trouble registering, just let your team manager know and they can guide you through it. If you are a player without a team, then feel free to email either Amber@afcsl.org or Jeff@afcsl.org for help.

2012 Dates Are Set

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:06:00 GMT

The dates have been set for the 2012 Spring Softball Season!

OPENING DAY:

Sunday, March 11

MANDATORY MANAGER'S MEETING:

Thursday, March 1, 2012 @ 7:00 p.m. (Location TBA)

This meeting is mandatory. If your manager can not attend this meeting then at least one representative from your team must attend. KEY information will be given out that is ONLY available at this meeting.

This is also when all team sponsorship fees are due.

NAGAAA Wins Settlement In Discrimination Case

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:24:00 GMT

The following is a press release issued by the North American Gay Amateur Athletics Alliance (NAGAAA) issued on Monday, November 27 to announce a settlement of a lawsuit stemming from an incident at the 2008 Gay Softball World Series (GSWS). At the tournament 3 players were ejected because they had allegedly lied about their sexual orientation, identifying themselves as gay when they were, it was believed, heterosexual.

While heterosexual players are allowed in the GSWS, there is a limit to 2 per team. The players were protested at the tournament and because they refused to identify as gay or bisexual during the protest meeting, the committee was forced to conclude that all three were heterosexual, thereby violating the 2-per-team rule. Two years later, in 2010, these players filed suit in Federal Court seeking $75,000 each in damages, accusing NAGAAA of discrimination based on sexual orientation and race.

SEATTLE, Washington — Organizers of the Gay Softball World Series (GSWS) have announced a settlement in the federal lawsuit that had questioned the legality of a rule requiring teams playing in the annual softball tournament for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to consist primarily of members of the LGBT community. The decision to settle came after a series of stinging blows to the case filed by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) on behalf of three men whose team was disqualified from the 2008 tournament for allegedly skirting the rule.

“We have been vindicated by the judge’s First Amendment rulings,” said Roy Melani, the Commissioner of the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance (NAGAAA), which hosts the GSWS. “This lawsuit threatened not only the purpose of our organization, but also its future. We fought hard to protect ourselves and our core identity and I am relieved this issue is finally behind us.”

NCLR filed the lawsuit in April 2010 in Federal Court after the Washington Human Rights Commission decided to pass on the case. Plaintiffs asserted various discrimination and privacy claims against NAGAAA, and asked the Court to bar NAGAAA from enforcing its rule in any future Gay Softball World Series.

However, a series of pre-trial rulings from U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour strongly favored the tournament and its First Amendment rights. On May 31, 2011, the judge dismissed plaintiffs’ claim seeking to change NAGAAA’s rule, and found that the First Amendment applies to NAGAAA’s mission. On November 14, 2011, the judge dismissed plaintiffs’ discrimination claims, ruling that “the First Amendment protects NAGAAA’s membership policy from Washington’s public-accommodation law.”

“It’s the Gay Softball World Series,” Melani argues. “It’s important we defend our right to maintain that identity. How else could we send our message that openly LGBT athletes can excel at team sports? We are a thriving and vibrant community. We compete. We socialize. We look after each other.”

Judge Coughenour agreed, finding that “it is reasonable that an organization seeking to limit participation to gay athletes would require members to express whether or not they are gay athletes.”

The three plaintiffs have now identified themselves as bisexual, but they did not do so during 2008 Protest Hearing or in their original complaints. “If all three players had just said they were bisexual at the time, the lawsuit would never have happened,” says Melani. Nevertheless, NAGAAA has clarified its written policies to more precisely reflect its long-held intent that bisexual and transgender players are full members of the LGBT community.

Plaintiffs’ remaining individual claims, which sought damages for alleged invasion of privacy and emotional distress, were set for trial in December, but the parties have now reached a settlement agreement resolving the lawsuit. As part of the settlement, NAGAAA has penned an open letter on its website (http://www.nagaaasoftball.org) explaining the lawsuit and the settlement terms.

“This is a complete win for us,” Melani said.

Founded in 1977, NAGAAA is a 501c(3) organization whose purpose is to promote amateur sports competition, particularly softball, for all persons regardless of age, sexual orientation or preference, with special emphasis on the participation of members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community.

NAGAAA's 41 member leagues include over 800 teams throughout the United States and Canada. Teams representing these leagues participate annually in NAGAAA's Gay Softball World Series, hosted each year by a different member city.

Note: America's Finest City Softball League has cast its vote to remove the so-called "80/20 Rule" at the 2010 NAGAAA Winter and 2011 Summer meetings and, if it comes to a vote again, we will remain consistent. We do not enforce this rule locally for our teams, but we do enforce it when sending teams to NAGAAA's Gay Softball World Series because all teams going to the tournament must conform to the rule.

NAGAAA & ASANA

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT

America's Finest CIty Softball League (AFCSL) is proud to participate in both NAGAAA (North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance) and ASANA (Amateur Softball Association of North America), the premier softball leagues by and for the LGBT community.

Each year NAGAAA puts on the Gay Softball World Series (GSWS), and the AFCSL sends between 3 and 5 teams to the event.

ASANA does the same, but for the Women's Softball World Series. AFCSL is especially proud and honored to host the WSWS in 2012.

Click to find out more information about NAGAAA or ASANA,