The Chicago Bears made a simple but very important public relations move yesterday. Had the Chicago Bears not acted swiftly on this, it would have been a PR DISASTER! If the Chicago Bears had willingly supported the National Organization for Marriage’s (NOM) anti-gay agenda, then the organization would find themselves squarely on the wrong side of history.
These days everyone is talking about gay rights: the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, Facebook marriage equality avatars, former Chicago Bears linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo claiming that four NFL players could all come out very soon, at the same time and Rutgers firing their college basketball coach Mike Rice, partially due to his use of homophobic slurs.
Rice used the f-word, and I’m not talking about the one that rhymes with duck; I’m speaking about the one that rhymes with maggot, and you simply cannot use that word today. Chicago Bears memorabilia items were recently donated to NOM’s Ruth Institute.
The Institute is hosting a “festive gala event” at the end of its annual “It Takes A Family” (ITAF) conference, which is aimed at training college-age students to oppose same-sex marriage. Signed Chicago Bears memorabilia is to be auctioned off at the gala, with the proceeds going to the institute and their “cause.”
From Equality Matters:
According to the email, the gala will include a raffle featuring two pieces of autographed memorabilia from the Chicago Bears Organization, who the group thanks for “supporting our message”
Equality Matters, an LGBT equality rights group, updated their article with statements from the Chicago Tribune reporting that the Chicago Bears denied having donated the memorabilia to the Ruth Institute.
In a statement, the Chicago Bears said:
“The two items featured in The Ruth Institute gala invitation were personal donations to Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse. Neither was a club donation, nor do they represent the team’s view on any social issues. Any remarks stating otherwise are false.”
Morse also issued a statement:
“The Ruth Institute is not working with the Chicago Bears organization or any of its players past or present to promote our upcoming auction. The memorabilia we are auctioning off was acquired by me personally, not through the team or players.”
So the Chicago Bears did the right thing.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, a Google News site generating millions of visitors. He’s an author who also contributes regularly to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker
Banks has appeared on Comcast SportsNet and the History Channel, as well as Clear Channel, ESPN and CBS radio all over the world. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@PaulMBanks)