With June being Pride Month, the NBA became one of the first professional sports leagues to honor the occasion by producing t-shirts with rainbow-colored logos of all 30 teams. Proceeds from the sales of the shirts will go to the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), an organization that "champions safe and affirming schools for all students."
Celebrate LGBT Pride with the @NBA@GLSEN & @Teespring! Rep your team today at https://t.co/qGbfZYlEgl! pic.twitter.com/osIfQKXIJM
— NBA Cares (@nbacares) June 7, 2016
Outsports talked with GLSEN's executive director Eliza Byard, who was overjoyed by the NBA's commitment to supporting the LGBT community:
"Professional sports showing up for LGBT people is one of the biggest cultural developments of the last decade, and really the last five years. The NBA has been showing up for LGBT youth and for GLSEN for a number of years. Having this be a league-wide initiative, knowing any LGBT fan in the country can choose to celebrate their team and themselves with one of those shirts, that's a whole new thing."
Kudos to the NBA for doing this. The shirts support a worthy cause and help spread the important message of equality. And while having rainbow-colored team logos on shirts seems inconsequential, it points to the NBA's continued commitment to being progressive, which many of the other professional sports leagues fail to do.
