The Chicago Cubs now have the first openly gay owner in major sports in the US. Her name is Laura Ricketts and she and her siblings bought the team for $845 million.
Laura is a member of the board of Lambda Legal, an organization fighting for LGBT rights, including same-sex marriage. She lives with her partner in Chicago
Windy City Times
Now technically, given that some teams are publicly traded or are owned by publicly traded entities, there have been gay owners, but no known openly gay owners.
In an interview with MarketToMarketLLC.com, Laura Ricketts, who has a partner, said, "I came out to my family I would say early to mid 30's. I think for a long time I wasn't really out to myself growing up in Omaha, Neb., to a Catholic conservative family. It took me a while to come out to myself and not long after that I came out to them. I think that it really couldn't of been a better experience. They were all immediately supportive. ... I have been really really fortunate in that regard."
Now this is not really a big deal, which kind of makes it a big deal. Ironic, huh? I mean we aren't going to see any protests, I would guess that most people will simply shrug their shoulders, say "so what". But that is news, right? Imagine 25 years ago. Imagine 15 years ago.
This is progress, small incremental progress, but it is progress.
Now interestingly, one of her brothers, another co-owner, Paul Ricketts, is a conservative Republican who opposes gay marriage.
Laura Ricketts told ABC there is no bad blood among the siblings. "We don't agree on all the issues of the day, but when it comes right down to it, we are family and love each other and that doesn't - that never - changes."
Now that Laura has broken one barrier, she will attempt to help the Cubs break a potentially more daunting one...winning the World Series.