Jason Collins & Michael Sam Tweet Congrats To Newly Out NCAA Player

(Tipped by JMG reader Str8 Grandmother)

NCAA Basketball Player Comes Out

ESPN has the story:

Derrick Gordon, a sophomore starter for the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team, stepped forward Wednesday as the first openly gay player in Division I men's college basketball, sharing his story with ESPN and Outsports. The 22-year-old shooting guard came out to his family, coaches and teammates in the span of just a few days at the beginning of April. That's when he also decided to publicly acknowledge his sexuality. I just didn't want to hide anymore, in any way," Gordon told ESPN. "I didn't want to have to lie or sneak. I've been waiting and watching for the last few months, wondering when a Division I player would come out, and finally I just said, 'Why not me?'"

Gordon says he was inspired to come out by Brooklyn Nets player Jason Collins. He came out to his teammates last week and his school is behind him.

"UMass is proud to have Derrick Gordon as a member of our athletic family and to honor his courage and openness as a gay student-athlete," athletic director John McCutcheon said in a written statement. "UMass is committed to creating a welcoming climate where every student-athlete, coach and staff member can be true to themselves as they pursue their athletic, academic and professional goals."

Fox Host Hails "NAACP" National Champs

Raw Story wonders if it was a Freudian slip.

“The UConn Huskies are the 2014 NAACP national champs,” Childers remarked during the second hour of the Fox & Friends First morning show. On her next attempt, she correctly stated that the team had won the national title for the NCAA — or National Collegiate Athletic Association. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People — or NAACP — is a civil rights organization focusing on equality for African-Americans and other minorities. At least 10 of the 15 players on the winning UConn team were African-Americans.

NCAA Opposes Indiana Marriage Ban

The National Collegiate Athletic Association, which is based in Indianapolis, says that it opposes Indiana's proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

"The NCAA national office leadership strongly supports an environment of inclusion where all of our employees are treated fairly and enjoy equal protection under the law," NCAA spokesman Bob Williams said. "We urge Indiana lawmakers to legislate in the same spirit." HJR-3 would amend the state constitution to read that marriage would only be recognized between one man and one woman in Indiana. The NCAA has long offered benefits to employees involved in same-sex relationships, Williams said. It has about 450 full-time employees. The national governing body for college sports has the power to prevent certain places and schools from playing host to NCAA championship events, and it has used that power on social issues.

Most of Indiana's NCAA-member universities have publicly denounced the proposed bill.

Focus On The Family Vs. NCAA

Focus On The Family is furious that the NCAA was pressured into removing their display ad from its website.

This Focus on the Family ad, believe it or not, has been yanked off the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) website for one simple reason: Focus on the Family supports natural marriage, believing that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. The NCAA, who apparently believes only in selective diversity - "Christians need not apply" - has censored this ad after homosexual activists complained. Look at the message again. By scrubbing this ad, is the NCAA saying we want our sons to grow up knowing how to do the wrong thing? With the number of NCAA athletes who get in trouble with the law every week, you'd think the NCAA would enthusiastically support a message which urges fathers to be great role models for their sons and athletes-to-be. Are NCAA officials saying that they celebrate divorce rather than intact families? That they celebrate death instead of life? That they don't want fathers to be involved with their sons? What is remotely objectionable about the message in this ad? NCAA officials even went so far as to say that even if the message was okay, they'd have to spike it because of the messenger.

Your own last line is your answer, Focus. When you've spent the last 30 years literally demonizing tens of millions of Americans, don't look so fucking shocked when others want nothing to do with your bigoted asses.

Lesbian "Super Bowl" Hits Tampa

The NCAA Women's Final Four basketball tournament is playing out in Tampa and the lady-loving-ladies are pouring into town.

The Final Four games Sunday and Tuesday will showcase the nation's best women's basketball match-ups. But the tournament will also usher in what is widely believed to be the largest lesbian gathering in the history of the Tampa Bay area. Other than the Dinah Shore golf weekend in Palm Springs, Calif., the women's tournament is seen as the next biggest lesbian gathering in the nation.

The tournament is expected to bring thousands of women to the Bay area, with events and parties planned from Ybor City to Gulfport. For many lesbians coming for the games, the event is an annual pilgrimage — regardless of the final teams — that is as much about camaraderie and unity as it is about cheering for the nation's finest college athletes.

Hosting the women's Final Four, jokingly referred to as the lesbian Super Bowl, stirs mixed feelings among those in the local lesbian community. Some would rather de-emphasize the tournament's historically strong ties to the lesbian community. Others wonder whether Tampa is worthy of hosting the event, and reaping the financial windfall, after the Hillsborough County Commission voted in 2005 to ban the acknowledgement of gay pride events in county buildings.

Here's a list of what Tampa Bay party promoters have put together for lesbian basketball fans. Um, make that "lesbian fans of basketball." Is there a difference? I kid, I kid.