New York has at long last become the last State or Province in North America to legalize mixed martial arts. For years the state has allowed unregulated amateur MMA bouts to take place, with potentially disastrous consequences.
In the absence of regulation, there are no mandatory blood tests and other safety measured. Last year NBC New York’s I-Team did an investigation, and learned that at least one competitor with AIDS fought in an unregulated bout in The Empire State. That is just one of the unfortunate twists to a long march to regulation.
There was yet another odd twist, when Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell gave a bizarre speech on MMA. Assemblyman O’Donnell, like his sister Rosie, is openly gay. Both should be commended for serving as role models in how you can be highly successful, and out.
And Rosie bless her heart called her brother up and asked him to support the bill. But he didn’t, and his reasoning was uncomfortably close to gay bashing.
It absolutely was MMA bashing. And it was just one of a series of bizarre political rants on Tuesday.
https://twitter.com/GrabakaHitman/status/712457148442271744
“Let’s start in the very beginning,” began O’Donnell. “It’s a very good place to start. I knew nothing about this. Had no interest in it. I’m a Tennis guy. I watch Tennis, I play Tennis. This was of no interest to me.
“Then I read a story, where the vice president of MMA said, ‘Well, of course we’re going to make this happen in New York. We gave $50,000 to a Democratic lobbyist so it’s all taken care of.’ That didn’t make me feel very good. I thought I should learn a little more about it.
What is it? Well, I should really like it. You have two nearly naked, hot men, rolling around on top of one another, trying to dominate each other. And just in case you don’t know, that’s gay porn with a different ending? Okay?”
“I won’t describe the ending for you. But as I’ve gotten older, the endings are less important. OK. So. The aggression and the violence of what that was did not make me necessarily comfortable. But again, kinda agnostic.”
At this point O’Donnell relates an influential discussion with a colleague who thought MMA was “unChristian.”
“Then we had a colleague here brought before the committee, and I’ve enjoyed this week’s discussion about our rules. Believe it or not Mr. Kavanaugh, I’ve enjoyed our discussion about the rules, because some times these processes work. So what happened?
“We had a colleague here who was deeply offended by what this was. Deeply offended. Thought it was like the Christians and the lions in Roman times. Thought it was barbaric. Thought it was absolutely unchristian, and violated his Catholic beliefs.
“We went to an arts committee meeting, and he convinced us. Bipartisanly. The committee voted like 12-2 to not allow this to go forward.
“Wow. Ok. That’s pretty good right?
“I leave the meeting. I go in the hallway, and find the lobbyist in question making a phone call trying to get the vote changed. Trying to get the vote changed.
“A year goes by, same committee, same composition, same members, same vote. The whole vote was different. The whole thing flipped. Rather than being 2-12 it was now 12-2.
“And what had happened? The money started to roll in. The money has rolled in. The story last week saying a million dollars has been spent on behalf of this lobbying effort, in order to make this happen.”
O’Donnell concluded his statement by saying he would take a shower, and hopes MMA stays banned in NY. He failed.
Other NY pols offered similar sentiments.
Matthew Titone, another out assemblyman, supported the bill, but couldn’t resist a gay joke.
“If I wanted to see half naked men fighting in a cage over a belt and purse, I’d go to Fire Island,” he quipped.
Assemblywoman Angela Wozniak’s concern was that this bill doesn’t do anything about policing sex offenders. Assemblyman Charles Barron compared MMA to slavery, where men on plantations were “thrown in a cage.” And in a moment of remarkable irony, Assemblywoman Deborah Glick accused MMA stars of being part of the dumbing down of America. Glick was unaware that gloves are used in the sport.
If these buffoons are any example of New York politicians, all a rational person can think is “Thank God for lobbyists.”
