LSU professor Leigh Clemons, who had New England Patriots cornerback Randall Gay as a student, decided she'd like to have a personalized football jersey with his name printed on the back.
But to her surprise, when she went to NFLshop.com and typed the word "Gay" in the box specifying personal lettering, she was informed: "This field should not contain a naughty word."
"I was like, 'You've got to be kidding me,'" Clemons told the Times-Picayune of New Orleans.
Clemons had to go through three levels of bureaucracy to get the jersey.
The word "gay" is now acceptable on the Web site.
Jim Buzinski of
Outsports.com, who had read about Clemons' shopping misadventure, decided to see what other words would be rejected. He discovered that one word that was not acceptable was "lesbian."
However, Buzinski found that "Bin Laden," "terrorist," and "Al Qaeda" were accepted without question.