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
Helen and I take an Olympian approach to our 100th vlog. After watching the Olympics non-stop for two weeks, we bring you the “Top Ten Reasons Parenting Is Like the Olympics” (and not just because it’s like sliding down an icy track at 90 miles per hour). Mombian: She Got Me Pregnant, 03-04-10 by drudolph
Under pressure from LGBT advocates, including Pat Griffin, Change.org, and (I imagine) many of you, the NCAA has pulled the Focus on the Family (FOF) ads from its Web site. As I wrote yesterday, the ads were running at NCAA.com, a site managed in partnership with CBSsports.com. CBS came under fire for running FOF ads
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is running banner ads for ultra-conservative group Focus on the Family. You can see them at NCAA.com. (If you don’t, just reload the page; the ads are in rotation with some others.) This is an affront to all LGBT, feminist, and allied NCAA athletes and former athletes. I was
Helen and I talk about watching the Olympics with our son, teaching him to skate, and keeping kids active during the winter in a snowy climate. Mombian: She Got Me Pregnant, 02-18-2010 by drudolph (If the embedded video above doesn’t work for you, try it at Dailymotion.) Brought to you in partnership with After Ellen.
What does Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir have to do with gay guinea pigs? The talented Sarah Brannen, author and illustrator of Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, the much-challenged children’s book about two male guinea pigs who marry, made a name for herself with photographs and watercolors of ice skaters long before she turned to furry rodents.
Thanks to the industrious folks at After Ellen, we now know there are four (count ’em, four!) out lesbian athletes in this year’s Olympics, and no gay male ones. That didn’t stop Olympic organizers from having k.d. lang perform at the opening ceremonies, or prevent NBC from using Melissa Etheridge’s “This Moment” for the closing
