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Blue Jays Suspend Yunel Escobar for Gay Slur, But That’s Not the Real Issue

Is maricon really hate speech? Or is it harmless locker-room, boys-will-be-boys slang? The answer lies somewhere in the middle, writes Jay Michaelson.

articles/2012/09/20/blue-jays-suspend-yunel-escobar-for-gay-slur-but-that-s-not-the-real-issue/Yunel-Escobar-cheat_feyw8p
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I was first called “maricon” in 1986, on the playing fields of my junior high school. Doubly ignorant, I didn’t know what it meant in Spanish (roughly, “faggot”), and I didn’t know—yet—that I was gay.

In fact, my homosexuality had nothing to do with it; I was called “maricon” for the...

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