My hometown team, the Boston Red Sox, is in the World Series. Earlier this week, New Jersey became the 14th state to enact marriage equality, with the possibility of several more to follow. All this got me thinking about parallels between the Red Sox and marriage equality.
On Friday, I mentioned Britney Simpson, one half of the 2013 U.S. Junior Pairs Champion figure skating team, who has two moms. I said it would be great to see both her and her skating partner’s parents in the audience if the pair makes the 2014 Winter Olympics—but forgot that the Games will be held in Russia. Russia’s increasingly harsh anti-gay laws cast Simpson’s moms’ attendance in a very different light.
Britney Simpson, one half of the 2013 U.S. Junior Pairs Champion figure skating team, has two moms—whose dedication to their daughter’s sporting career is pretty amazing.
I posted Monday about basketball star Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets, who spoke out on behalf of his two moms and in favor of civil unions (and marriage equality) in Colorado. That’s cool—but it turns out he’s even cooler. Reader Fran Simon, who is herself working to help pass the civil union bill, sent me a fun story about her family meeting Faried. I’m sharing it here, with her permission.
Basketball star Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets has two moms, as we found out a couple of years ago. He recently made a video with them for One Colorado, the state LGBT advocacy group that is leading the fight for civil unions in that state. “Nobody can ever tell me I can’t have two mothers, because I really do,” he said. Watch:
Canadian football star Jon Cornish of the Calgary Stampede won the Canadian Football League’s “Most Outstanding Canadian” award last Thursday—and came out about his two moms during his acceptance speech.
In a dazzling display of basketball prowess, the women of Baylor University won over Notre Dame in last night’s NCAA Championships. The annual March Madness basketball tournament also prompted the New York Times this week to examine how and why the coaches of women’s teams get paid far less than those of men’s teams. Does gender inequity play a role in how your kids perceive sports?
I’ve been watching a lot of the Tour de France this week, as I’m a semi-rabid cyclist myself and love a good athletic endeavor, male or female. But heck, if I’m going to watch Lycra-clad butts for hours a day, I’d really rather they were of the female variety. (Because I want to emulate their cycling style, of course. What did you think I meant?)
Rick Welts, president and chief executive of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, has just come out as gay. It was a significant and risky move in an industry that is not known for its tolerance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. (LA Laker star Kobe Bryant recently paid a $100,000 fine for calling a referee a “faggot.”) And as Megan Hueter has written here at BlogHer, women’s collegiate basketball suffers similar problems. Homophobia and transphobia in sports are not confined to the professional and collegiate levels, however.
For your pre-weekend reading, ESPN.com has an interview with Morehead State University basketball star Kenneth Faried, who talks about the influence of his two moms, one of whom is battling lupus. “When they got married,” he said, “that showed me what commitment is all about, that there are people out there that can commit, even
