All Five Seattle Pro Sports Teams Cooperate to Celebrate ‘Pride Month’

All five of the Seattle, Washington, professional sports teams announced a cooperative effort to recognize gay pride month, reports say.

Gay activists are celebrating the combined effort, noting that this is the first time that all the teams have organized to recognize LGBTQ equality, according to USA Today.

“Today the Seattle sports community is telling the world that athletes, coaches, fans, and officials, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, should have equal access, opportunity and experience in sports,” Hudson Taylor, founder of gay advocacy group Athlete Ally, told the paper.

Taylor added that the cooperative is “unprecedented.”

The teams involved in the cooperative celebration of gay pride month include the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, Major League Baseball’s Mariners, the WNBA Storm, Seattle’s male soccer team the Sounders, and the women’s pro soccer team the Reign.

Four of the teams have coordinated back-to-back “Pride” events. The Seahawks, while announcing their support, are not in season.

“Our iconic arches on CenturyLink Field will continue to be lit in rainbow colors,” said Seahawks General Counsel and Vice President Ed Goines.

Each of the five teams is also cooperating with the gay advocacy group Athlete Ally to supply players to act as “Professional Ambassadors.” According to the paper, those players include Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm, James Paxton of the Seattle Mariners, and Brad Evans of the Seattle Sounders FC.

“Acknowledging and appreciating our differences actually affirms our humanity, making it possible for all of us to own the fullness of our individual identities, and that serves as a source of connection,” said Ginny Gilder, co-owner of the Seattle Storm.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.