I’m not gay and I don’t play soccer, but I have been pleased by the blossoming of gay marriage initiatives and by the fact that increasing numbers of young and old have been drawn to soccer as a recreational activity – to the point that our local community has, with some curmudgeonly exceptions, embraced the reality of synthetic turf, to permit year round participation in a wonderfully healthy activity.
It seems that opposition to the synthetic turf field is very much like opposition to gay rights and gay marriage. In both instances there are claims that the behaviour in question simply isn’t “natural”, and as such, ought to be resisted. Sex between two men or two women is, statistically speaking, outside of pre-existing norms. And a synthetic playing surface is similarly, statistically speaking, outside of pre-existing norms (never mind that plastic has been an integral part of our lives, in other contexts, for decades).
(more…)