Or, why I'm finally proud to be a Cubs fan (the last 101 years haven't given me much reason to be).

From bitchmagazine.org.

If you live in Chicago or are a Cubs fan, it's not news that the Ricketts family just bought the Chicago Cubs. But what is news to this Cubs fan is that one of the owners is not only female, but a lesbian.

Laura Rickets, who will serve on the board of directors with her three brothers, is an out lesbian who serves on the board of Lambda Legal, which is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and people living with HIV/AIDS.

Ricketts is the first openly gay owner of any professional sports team in the United States--football, basketball, hockey, and soccer included.

Perhaps the inclusiveness can also spread to That Other Baseball Team in Chicago, and their fans, and perhaps anyone who owns this lovely t-shirt or one of the other versions of it that I've spotted (yes, being worn proudly by a person ... yes, in 2009 ... yes, while Prop 8 has been debated ... yes, while 6 states legalized gay marriage) will retire the stupid offensive shirt. (Not that there aren't homophobic Cubs fans.)



Of course what can you expect when the manager of That Other Baseball Team publicly uses gay slurs.

The "joke" is that Wrigley Field (and the surrounding Wrigleyville neighborhood) is just north of the Boystown neighborhood in Chicago, home of many gay bars, the Chicago Gay Pride Parade and The Center on Halsted, Chicago's GLBT Community Center. I've always found it interesting that the two neighborhoods would bump up against each other - Wrigleyville, home of major league baseball and a bunch of bars that always reminded me of frat parties, next to Boystown, which certainly stands out on the last Sunday of June.

Anyway, I digress. Will Laura Rickett's place in major league baseball encourage any closeted professional athletes to come out? From reading the Bitch blog post linked at the beginning of my post, MLB doesn't have a great track record on being inclusive.