Sports as Social Justice Has Run Its Course
Take the "W" and move on
In 2003, I went to a Cubs game, and the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus sang the national anthem. I thought that was cool; I saw it as a show of acceptance in a place where you might not expect it (even though the Cubs play in the gayest part of Chicago, which is also one of the gayest parts of the entire world).
Of course, that was 2003, when gay marriage was illegal in all 50 states. Conservatives were trying to get gay marriage banned in state constitutions, and they would win 31 times in a row. Gay sex was only becoming legal at that exact moment (I think it was the 4th inning); before a Supreme Court ruling that year, 14 states could throw you in jail for sodomy. And most people agreed that the risk of jail was not worth how much hotter the danger made the sex.
Now, it’s 2026. Gay marriage has been legal nationwide for more than a decade. Americans are free to put whichever body part in whichever orifice they desire, and — based on my admittedly limited knowledge of the situation — they are going absolutely hog wild on that front. Discrimination against transgender people is illegal. This is the context for the this week’s baseball/LGBTETCETERA controversy, which I’m calling Golden Gate Rainbow Gate.
