Lesbians, softball, and the Supreme Court

Wow, this is the kind of post that just gets me so...excited!
So I missed the whole Wall Street Journal printing pics of SCOTUS nominee Elena Kagan playing softball--on their front page! I did see said pics in various postings/blogs around teh internets.
And of course I have been around for the remarkable silence around her sexuality--besides that whole denial thing by the White House. This situation seems to be getting stickier every day. And I could pontificate about political strategy and the ins and outs and in-betweens of the closet.
But I'd rather talk about softball! And lesbians! And lesbians who play softball!
Because you gotta love the New York Post chiding the more snooty and allegedly high brow WSJ by publishing an article about the connection between lesbians and softball. And even getting one my favorite (former) softball-playing lesbians and sexuality and sport scholar, Dr. Pat Griffin, to comment on it.
Why yes, Virginia, there are lesbians who play softball! And no it doesn't mean that all women who play softball are lesbians. But, yes, many are. And yes, as you will read in the Post article, in Yvonne Zipter's book Diamonds are a Dykes Best Friend, and in Drs. Susan Birrell and Diana Richter's article "Is a diamond forever?: Feminist transformations of sport" softball has been an important part in many lesbians' lives and the lesbian community.
So suck it up, straight girls. Tie as many ribbons in your hair around those too-tight French braids as you want, but stop complaining about being confused for a lesbian. And stop with your raunchy heterosex stories and the talk about your wonderful boyfriends on the bench (yes, I'm speaking from personal experience). Lesbians have to live in your heteronormative world all the time. So what that softball is associated with lesbians? Isn't pretty much everything else unapologetically heterosexual? Stop making us feel bad for the fact that lesbians dominate the sport. Play with us! Please. We'll love you, too. But not in that way--unless you want us to ;)

I was going to come back to the Kagan issue and tie it all in, but I am going to save that for forthcoming post about softball, lesbians, community norms, generational shifts, and progressive and gender politics.