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San
Francisco, June 1, 2005.
STATEMENT
BY THOM LYNCH, PRESIDENT AND C.E.O.
SF LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER
Outrageous 49ers Training Video
(San Francisco, June 1, 2005). The outrageous training
video produced by the San Francisco 49ers, leaked to the
San Francisco Chronicle, demonstrates how thin the veneer
of tolerance is in the team which represents our city in
the NFL.
The video is demeaning to women, to the Asian and Pacific
Islander community and to the entire Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual
and Transgender community.
One of the most troubling things about this video is that
it is the third recent incident in which severe problems
in the corporate culture of the San Francisco 49ers are demonstrated:
discrimination and homophobia. Comments by Garrison Hearst,
the disclosures by a retired trainer of the difficulties
during his employment, and now this video prove that the
49ers have to go beyond the apology from Denise and John
York posted on the 49ers website about the video.
Stating
that content of the video was "never cleared
by any officer of the organization" is not enough. The
film features the 49ers Public Relations Director, who announced
his resignation today. This is someone who, we must assume,
was hired to accurately represent the values and priorities
of the 49ers. We are horrified by the values he represents
in this video.
The 49ers benefit from their relationship with the City
and County of San Francisco but they have responded by belittling
and ridiculing the diversity of the City and County which
supports them.
As San Francisco's NFL team, and as role models to our
City's youth, the 49ers must take concrete steps to demonstrate
their commitment to the values of our city.
• Meet with the community members and leaders from the women's community,
Asian and Pacific Islander community and the LGBT community demeaned in this
video.
• Visibility connect themselves to the communities they attacked.
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