NBA Star Manu Ginóbili Loves Argentina's Gay Marriage Law

Living in Boston, it's still a bit hard to talk about the NBA, given that we're barely a month removed from the Los Angeles Lakers stealing a championship from my beloved city. (At least that's how I see it.) But this piece of news is too good to pass up. San Antonio Spurs all-star, and one of the best basketball players even to come out of Argentina, Manu Ginóbili, just went on record celebrating Argentina's historic passage of marriage equality legislation.
We live in a world where homophobia and sports are all too often linked together. Athletes are told to stay in the closet until long after retirement, lest they face homophobia from fans, teammates, coaches and administrators. That's why it makes me swoon to see professional athletes stand up for LGBT rights. The New Orleans Saints Scott Fujita? Wonderful. The Baltimore Ravens' Brendon Ayanbadejo? He's fantastic, too.
And now we can add the San Antonio Spurs' Ginóbili to that list, too. Here's his take on the Argentine marriage equality law, with a wonderful hat tip to Blabbeando and Out Sports.
"I am in favor of gay marriage ... specially of the rights ... needed by people who are equal before the law ... and it doesn’t affect the rest of society … it doesn’t, if they are gays … yes? Let them be and do whatever they want, I am in favor," Ginobli said.
Now here's wishing that the interview would have ended there. Because Ginóbili was asked a follow up question about gay adoption (also legal in Argentina now), and on that subject Ginóbili was a little mixed. Not that he's against gay adoption; he just doesn't have all the information he needs to give a solid opinion.
"Adoption is much more delicate,I don’t feel I have the qualifications, I don’t know which studies have been done, if there is any background. I know that, I believe – I don’t know, as an outside observer, without knowledge of what scientific data there is out there – that for a baby it should be better to be with two dads than to be in an orphanage," Ginóbili added.
Well, heck. That's an easy fix. Because study after study after study after study has been done to show that LGBT parents do a darn good job at raising kids. And the kids? They do pretty darn well, too.
Meanwhile, now that Argentina has legalized same-sex marriage, all eyes are turning to the country's neighbors, Uruguay and Paraguay, to see if they might be next on the marriage equality front. Reports came out in both countries this week that LGBT groups were itching to move marriage equality legislation through their respective legislatures.
Let's see them do it. After all, Argentina needs some friends in the marriage equality club.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Source By: Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor.