Marketing vs. Reality: Major Gay Leagues

A good friend sparked my interest in this next subject of discussion. Recentely, everyone is getting all up in arms when activists say sports aren't inclusive of LGBT people..why? Well because they now have "gay" nights at ballparks, stadiums and arenas across the country. Sure, Fenway Park had Jason Collins throw out the first pitch in July on gay night. The LA Dodgers celebrate diversity on gay night at the stadium. So wait, does this mean that we are wrong? That all is right in sports? Well no. Folks, there is a large difference between marketing to a LGBT constituency versus actually accepting and welcoming them.

There is money to be made off of LGBT fans and supporters. That is the bottom line, harsh truth of sports marketing right now. A myriad of teams are taking advantage across a variety of sports, and who can blame them? They have every right to pursue profit just as Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon do. So what is so questionable about this practice? It is the claim that a social injustice is being mended from pure monetary driven practices.

Apart from the marketing to LGBT people, are leagues really being inclusive in nature and working to bash down the last closet in America? Well partially. We see leagues like the NBA training their rookies on LGBT terms and definitions. Major League Baseball will see education and training regarding LGBT policies at their winter meetings this year. But what about the rest of the NBA players? What about the NBA's Roy Hibbert (pictured below) who made a blatantly heinous anti-gay slur at a press conference just last season? Are they being trained and educated? Where is the NFL on the topic of LGBT equality? Just because MLB executives understand the need for a more diverse environment, do players, general managers and coaches as well?

All these questions are unanswered with no good reason. We are in 2013, where now 15 states legally permit gay marriage and many more on the cusp of doing so. LGBT citizens are everywhere, part of every line of work, and existent in nearly all communities in the United States. If we want to claim sports is part of this country's tradition, it better get on the equality bandwagon and become gay friendly leagues, not exclusively hetero-normative.