Mariners to Make History as First MLB Team to Publicly Fly Pride Flag at a Game

When the Seattle Mariners play host to the Chicago Cubs this Sunday, they will hoist the Pride flag at Safeco Field. 

That may not seem like a big deal with the strides that have recently been made towards equality in sports, but according to Congressman Adam Smith, the Mariners will be the first team in MLB history to do so:

Seattle's Pride Parade, which celebrates "Equality: Passed, Present & Future," according to SeattlePride.org, will occur on the same day as the June 30 game, marking the perfect time for the city of Seattle and the Mariners organization to proudly wave the rainbow-colored flag. 

This marks yet another step towards the complete acceptance of the LGBT community that we have seen in the sports world this year. 

In April, we saw WNBA superstar Brittney Griner come out, followed shortly after by NBA center Jason Collins becoming the "first openly gay athlete playing in a major American sport."

We have begun to see important changes in other sports, too. 

In the NFL, Brendon Ayanbadejo and Chris Kluwe, among others, have openly supported gay marriage. In the collegiate world, UCLA's Jim Mora became the first college football head coach to endorse and welcome gay athletes. In the NHL, a measure was passed to support gay athletes. 

Most recently, Robbie Rogers of the Los Angeles Galaxy, after seemingly being pushed towards a premature retirement, returned and became the "first active openly gay male athlete to compete in an American professional team sport."

Barriers are being broken all over the place, and Seattle, which legalized same-sex marriages during the last elections, appears ready to extend that acceptance. 

We can only hope that this is the beginning of a new trend in baseball and all sports.