Tag Archive | LGBT
Another Double Standard: Celebrating Out Male Athletes, Ignoring Out Female Athletes
On Monday, NBA veteran Jason Collins became the first openly gay male professional athlete in America, a huge step forward for American sports, culture and society as a whole. As the mainstream sports media, players, fans, owners and bloggers all reacted to the news, a common untruth was repeated again and again: “Collins is the [...]
NBA Center Jason Collins Comes Out
Today Jason Collins became the first openly gay male professional athlete in America, coming out in a beautifully written front page article in Sports Illustrated. You’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t read the whole thing, but here are few highlights: I’m a 34-year-old NBA center. I’m black. And I’m gay. I didn’t set [...]
Chris Kluwe and Brendon Ayanbadejo Continue to be Awesome
Chris Kluwe and Brendon Ayanbadejo are two of the most outspoken LGBT allies in sports right now. That’s not to say that there aren’t others, but even we have already written about them numerous times, including here. But now we have even one more (nerdy) reason to adore them: Kluwe and Ayanbadejo have filed an [...]
UFC Features Female Matchup as Top Billing
File under: things I never expected to be emailed by my cable provider. We don’t know much about Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) or the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) here at Bloomer Girls, but this email was very surprising to us. The Women’s World Bantamweight Championship match gets top billing in this advertisement, and we’re always [...]
Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets Joins Athlete Ally
We’ve seen a lot of progress recently regarding professional athletes as LGBT allies, from Chris Kluwe and Brendon Ayanbadejo to lots of pro baseball teams making “It Gets Better” videos over the last season. Sure, not every player on every team is on board, and some of the teams’ videos are just generally about anti-bullying [...]
ESPN The Magazine’s Political Survey
In its most recent issue, ESPN The Magazine conducted an anonymous survey of players across the four big sports about various political issues. At the outset, I don’t think sports and politics should mix, but obviously athletes have lives beyond their jobs, and I don’t fault them for using their fame to advance their beliefs and values. [...]
Yunel Escobar: Yikes, But a Teachable Moment
On Saturday during a day game between the Blue Jays and the Red Sox, Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar took the field with the phrase “Tu ere maricon” written in his eyeblack. “Tu ere maricon,” as many have reported, means “you are [a] faggot.” I don’t think I have to say much about the phrase itself. I’ll [...]
Support for Gay Rights Gains Yardage in the NFL
Last week was a big one for marriage equality activism in football. Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo has long been an outspoken advocate for marriage equality and gay rights, speaking about his support for these issues on ESPN’s Outside the Lines, participating in the No H8 campaign and appearing in videos of Marylanders for Marriage Equality. Towleroad (who [...]
A Sweet Moment at the U.S. Open
I went to the U.S. Open last night, and it was awesome. I did not see my favorite male player, Novak Djokovic, but via Towleroad comes this adorable story: during one of Djokovic’s practice sessions a boy yelled “Djokovic, will you marry me?” Djokovic invited him onto the court to serve a few balls, and then gave [...]
Links Post
We may be consumed with reading yesterday’s 193-page healthcare decision and all the corresponding analysis, but we also found time for some Bloomer Girls-related reading. Check it out: The Big Lead has a piece on hurdler Lolo Jones’s appearance on Jay Leno. Jones placed third in the U.S. hurdling qualifiers. So why didn’t first place Dawn [...]
