MLB Great Curt Schilling 'Blindsided' by Backlash Over Transgender Bathroom Comment
After coming under fire for posting a comment on Facebook in defense of state laws aimed at protecting women in public bathrooms, former baseball pitcher Curt Schilling defended himself Tuesday by telling people it is their fault if they are offended in a lengthy follow up blog post
It was reported on Monday that Schilling, who is a baseball analyst for ESPN, reposted a picture on Facebook of a creepy-looking middle aged man wearing a blonde wig and provocative women's clothing along with this caption: "Let Him In! to the restroom with your daughter, or else you are a narrow minded, unloving racist bigot who needs to die!!!"
In a comment to the posted meme, which has since been deleted, Schilling wrote: "A man is a man no matter what they call themselves. I don't care what they are, who they sleep with, men's room was designed for the penis, women's not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently, Pathetic!"
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Following the social backlash from the post, ESPN announced that it was reviewing the matter and going to take it "very seriously." Schilling was also suspended by ESPN last year after he posted a graphic to twitter comparing radical Muslim extremists to German Nazis.
To defend both his recent social media post and his post from August, the three-time World Series champion issued a follow-up post on his 38 Pitches blog in a post titled "The hunt to be offended…"
"This is likely the easiest way to address all of you out there who are just dying to be offended so you can create some sort of faux cause to rally behind," Schilling wrote. "Let's make one thing clear right up front. If you get offended by ANYTHING in this post, that's your fault, all yours."
Schilling blamed the media for blowing his posts out of proportion. He first addressed the Islamic extremist meme from last year and claimed the media helped cause the backlash by leaving out the word "extremist" when reporting on it.
"Every one of you gutless cowards, when 'calling me out' or calling me a racist, every one of you left out the only word in that entire meme that mattered," Schilling wrote. "That word being omitted creates two completely different posts with two very different meanings. I don't dislike or hate Muslims, or people of the Islamic faith. Ask my friends that are both. But then again you all knew that, but when you omit the word extremist you create a person that doesn't exist and have a story with traction, even if it is a complete lie."
As for the hysteria surrounding his recent transgender bathrrom post, Schilling believes that it is a bunch of "brew ha ha" because he "didn't post that ugly looking picture" but only commented on the "basic functionality of mens and womens restrooms."
"You know how I know you 'offended' people are full of crap? Because I'm not even close to any of the things you so desperately want me to be, so you can whine," Schilling added. "I'm loud, I talk too much, I think I know more than I do, those and a billion other issues I know I have. Like everyone one of you I have flaws, but I'm ok with my flaws, they're what make me, me."
"I thank the Lord for the life I've been given," Schilling continued. "A life interspersed and occupied by men and women who are gay, by people of all races and religions, by men and women who dress as the other, by men and women who've changed to women and men. Not one decision I've ever made about a person has anything to do with those things I just mentioned, nor will it ever."
In an interview on Wednesday on Boston sports talk radio station WEEI, the former Red Sox great explained that he was told by ESPN not to publicly discuss political issues. However, he said he felt "blindsided" by the backlash stemming from his transgender bathrooms post because he thought bathrooms were not a political issue.
"When I got the call [from ESPN], I was like, 'I don't get this, how does this become that,'" Schilling said. "I stated a fact. Men's bathrooms were designed for people who stand up, and women's weren't. It's nothing more than that."
