Friday, August 29, 2008

Fuck The LPGA

From Newsday.com:

Civil rights and Asian-American groups said yesterday an LPGA decision to require golfers to speak English is insulting and possibly illegal.

Several national news outlets reported that the reaction in the pro golf community was more mixed, with some questioning the language policy and others saying foreign-born players would benefit from learning English.

But Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the LPGA could open itself up to a discrimination lawsuit if it bars golfers from participating because of their national origin.

The language policy is expected to most affect the LPGA's 45 South Korean members. There are 121 international players from 26 countries on the tour. "If they are targeting people based on language when language is not essential to the job at hand, which is playing golf, then it is discrimination," Lieberman said.

Many South Korean players, including Hall of Famer Se Ri Pak, acknowledge there is a problem on the tour and support the language policy, according to reports. The LPGA has told players who have been members for two years that they could face suspension if they do not become competent in English by next year.

Richard Konda, executive director of the San Jose, Calif.-based Asian Law Alliance, said the policy is "troubling" given golf's checkered history on race relations. He also said the LPGA could be guilty of discrimination on the basis of national origin.

The Washington, D.C.-based Asian-American Justice Center called on the LPGA to retract the policy, which it called "tantamount to national origin discrimination." Konda added: "They should be very careful in terms of enacting a thing like this because it seems to me that they are going backwards instead of forwards."