My hometown team, the Boston Red Sox, is in the World Series. Earlier this week, New Jersey became the 14th state to enact marriage equality, with the possibility of several more to follow. All this got me thinking about parallels between the Red Sox and marriage equality.
- Both the Red Sox and marriage equality began in Massachusetts.
- After many years of trying without a victory, the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004. After many years of trying without a victory, same-sex couples could first legally wed (in a U.S. jurisdiction) in 2004.
- Both make me nervous when they’re not doing well — although I continue to have faith.
- The Red Sox made it to the World Series in 2013, the same year marriage equality won a major victory when part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was repealed. The full fate of the Sox in the Series, like the full fate of DOMA/marriage equality, remains to be seen.
- Both the Red Sox and marriage equality advocates have upset the far right by showing LGBT pride.
- All of the team’s major sponsors offer benefits to same-sex partners/spouses of employees, with high or perfect scores on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index of 100 possible points: Anheuser-Busch (90), Bank of America (100), Coca-Cola (100), EMC (100), JetBlue (90), and John Hancock (80).
- Both the Red Sox and marriage equality are good for children.
- Both the Red Sox and marriage equality have given us images of awesome beards.