Craig Person and Edmund Yang have filed a lawsuit against Great America, three years after an incident at the park. They're claiming discrimination and harassment, among other things.
Their story goes like this: In 2008 they were visiting the park and road the Psycho Mouse. At the end of the ride there were the obligatory photos of riders shrieking on the roller coaster. They chose not to buy the photo.
Later in the day, a friend noticed their picture, which had been captioned with the words "Were Fags!" The friend grabbed the picture and showed it to the guys. They took it to the office, where a customer service rep admitted the photo was produced by a park employee. Great America subsequently fired the employee responsible for the photo.
I know the politically correct thing to do is show my solidarity with these guys and express outrage at the blatant anti-gay bigotry of Great America. But I find it hard to be too sympathetic. And I readily admit I'm drawing conclusions only from what I've read in the press and have no idea what back story, if any, exists.
First of all, it took three years??? Really???? It took these guys three years to decide they had been discriminated against and harassed?
Secondly, why blame Great America for the actions of one stupid, probably closeted jock, teenager? This incident, as shitty as it is, is not evidence of institutional anti-gay bigotry on Great America's part. And they did investigate and terminate the employee involved.
Finally, I'm sure these guys are not the first to suffer some editorial comment on a picture by a stupid teenager. How many pictures of big fat people, etc., have been doctored and passed around to other stupid teenagers?
Which brings me back to this: Always buy the picture, whether you want it or not. Buy the damn thing and throw it away if you don't want it.
Bay Area Reporter
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