Tue. June 21, 2011
Chicago, IL -
The Chicago Cubs are the second professional sports team to record an "It Gets Better" video to help LGBT kids realize that bullying stops and life does get better.
The video, which was released on Monday, features several Cubs players, including Ryan Dempster, Marlon Byrd, Darwin Barney, manager Mike Quade and former Cub and first base coach Bob Dernier.
Cubs owner Laura Ricketts, who is openly lesbian, also speaks in the video. Ricketts became the first openly gay MLB owner when the Ricketts family took over ownership of the Cubs from the Tribune Company in 2009. She is also on the board of Lambda Legal.
"It's really hard to grow up," Ricketts said in a press release. "There is a lot of bullying, a lot of pressure. And LGBT kids experience it all too often."
While professional sports are often filled with trash-talking and gay slurs, the player who appear in the video said they understand what it's like to be bullied.
"I have gay uncles and straight uncles. It's a part of life and it's not weird. It's perfectly normally," Barney said.
The Cubs will again participate in the Chicago Pride Parade on Sunday, June 26. The parade steps off at Noon from Belmont and Halsted and is expected to draw 500,000 people to the North Halsted area.
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