LZ Granderson

Numerous times over the course of his Hall of Fame career, Chicago White Stockings baseball player Cap Anson, refused to play if the opposing team had Black players. He carried this prejudice with him to his managerial career and his time as part owner of what is now the Chicago Cubs. In his 1900 autobiography, "A Ball Player's Career," Anson refers to one of his team's mascots as "little darkey" and with other racial slurs but makes no reference to the great Black baseball players he pushed to exclude.

Similarly, LGBTQ athletes have historically been excluded from sports, in policy, and more importantly, in culture. From slurs on the court to painting locker rooms pink, to banning trans athletes—all of the wonderful benefits that come from participating in sports are far too often kept away from queer athletes. This is a conversation about how that hurts everyone.