More Than A Magazine, A Movement
“There’s no crying in baseball,” says Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own. But the film’s more subtle theme is that there are no lesbians in baseball. The 1992 film made no mention of the fact that many of the athletes in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) were gay.
But last Friday, Amazon Prime Video unveiled an eight-episode series, also called A League of Their Own, that includes openly lesbian AAGPBL players.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the law that opened all educational programs, including sports, to girls in the United States.
Tennis legend Billie Jean King has done more than any other athlete to make the promise of Title IX a reality. She also won a record 20 Wimbledon titles, 13 US titles, four French titles, and two in Australia between 1961 and 1979.
Title IX exponentially increased opportunities for women in sports by ensuring equitable participation, treatment and benefits and college scholarship. However, girls of color still face an unequal playing field.
“Don’t let anyone define your dream,” Megan Rapinoe—two-time Women’s World Cup champion, Olympic gold medalist and equal pay activist—declared from the stage at the Women’s Sports Foundation’s 40th Annual Salute to Women in Sports. “Dream way bigger than anything you’re seeing right now. Hopefully, we’re setting the groundwork for the next generation to be massive […]