Tadej Pogačar, from his UAE Team Emirates bio.

Our family, especially our younger daughter, are fans of professional cycling. Our daughter knows all of the major players, and if my interest is more for the scenery on the European road races, I still know something about the sport.

How fanatic are our family? While watching the Tour of Scotland on television in 2022, my wife and daughter decided, upon seeing a quaint looking hotel in Ballater, Scotland, that they had to go there, which they did in October of that year. I didn’t get to go, but it worked out for me because, when our older daughter called from Kuwait, and said she got four days leave and was going to Jerusalem, I had a perfect excuse to join her there, and no one could object that it cost too much money!

The two best cyclists in the world are Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark and Tadej Pogačar from Slovenia. Mr Vingegaard rides for Team Visma/Lease-a-Bike, while Mr Pogačar is the number one rider for UAE Team Emirates. Mr Pogačar won the Tour de France in 2020 and 2021, while Mr Vingegaard won in 2022 and 2023. Alas! Mr Vingegaard was injured in a serious crash on Stage 4 of the Tour of Basque Country on April 4^th, and while it’s not impossible, it is unlikely he’ll be in shape to ride in the Tour this year.

One of the primary goals of the corporate, and in the case of UAE, government, sponsors is publicity, as bike racing is especially popular in Europe, and there’s nothing that the sponsors like more than seeing their emblems featured prominently on television. And with Mr Pogačar, the UAE Team Emirates logo will be very prominently featured on television!

NBA puts logo of anti-gay government’s airline on its referees, including two who are gay and trans

Bill Kennedy and Che Flores are gay and trans NBA referees. The NBA has put Emirates patches on them despite anti-gay laws.

By Cyd Zeigler | Sunday, April 14, 2024 | 4:20 PM PDT

NBA referees have been required to wear multiple patches supporting Emirates on their uniforms during games since the All-Star Break.

Emirates and the NBA reportedly signed a deal in February making them the official global airline of the NBA and WNBA. Both leagues have a long history of supporting LGBTQ inclusion. The patch of their new partner seems to be a deliberate move to take advantage of increased TV screen time for referees.

Emirates is owned by the government of Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates.

Dubai and the UAE outlaw homosexuality. On LGBTQ rights, Dubai has a score of zero out of 100 from Equaldex. Zero. For context, Nigeria has a score of 4. Saudi Arabia has a 14.

I had a few chuckled when Philadelphia Inquirer opinion writer Devi Lockwood came out — pun very much intended — and complained:

Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov refused to wear a rainbow warmup jersey during the team’s LGBTQ Pride Night game against the Anaheim Ducks. He was the only player to do so. Provorov, who hails from Yaroslavl, Russia, cited his Russian Orthodox faith as the reason for abstaining from rainbows, telling reporters after the game that he had chosen “to stay true to myself and my religion.”

As a queer woman, a former hockey player, a Christian, and an NHL fan, I am disappointed at the league and the Flyers’ response. In refusing to wear the Pride Night jersey, Provorov refused to acknowledge the humanity of LGBTQ people. And the league, in defending his stance, went right along with it. . . .

Provorov is entitled to his personal convictions. He can believe that only marriages between a man and a woman can be blessed by God, or that homosexuality is a sin. But I wish he knew this: For other populations, when they adopt the church, the suicide rate decreases. For LGBTQ people, when they adopt the church, the suicide rate increases.

Provorov should have donned that rainbow jersey and, yes, put rainbow tape on his hockey stick — not because he accepts gay marriage or because he’s eager to march in a Pride parade — but to stand up for LGBTQ people who are suffering. The defenseman had a chance to make a statement against bullying, against hatred, and against violence, without even opening his mouth. Instead, he chose not to step on the ice for warmups. That is shameful.

So, Miss Lockwood apparently believes that her views should have trumped Mr Provorov’s free exercise of religion. I’m not sure how many people would even have noticed, had not the Inky made a big deal about it, because rather than appear on the ice in a warmup sweater without the rainbow image, he stayed in the locker room during warmups. But at least Mr Provorov got to exercise his freedom, while a couple of NBA referees really don’t. Back to the originally cited article:

Human Rights Watch says the UAE is a total loss for human rights. On the UAE’s Wikipedia page for LGBT rights, the country has a “red X” through every possible right or privilege for the LGBTQ community.

Same-sex marriage is banned, transitioning genders is banned, homosexuality is potentially punished with imprisonment or worse. There’s no adoption for LGBTQ people, there are no anti-discrimination laws.

This is the government with whom the NBA has not just signed a deal, but they have put their logo on the chests and sleeves of their referees.

Two of the NBA officials required to wear these patches are gay and trans. Bill Kennedy came out publicly as a gay man a decade ago because he saw homophobia in the league. Che Flores shared their story last year.

In addition, officials across the WNBA will be required to wear the patches starting next year. Reminder: The WNBA has many publicly out LGBTQ coaches and players.

If the NBA tried to put a ‘pride’ logo on star players like LeBron James or Anthony Davis^[1]I just pulled a couple of star player’s names to use as an example; I have no idea how any individual player would react., and they refused because it was against their religion, the league would knuckle under to their demands. Referees? They are not stars, and easily replaceable, while the WNBA has only a few real stars, and plenty of up-and-comers who could do just as well. During the 2023 WNBA season, the league attendance averaged only 6,615 people in the stands. Television viewership has also increased, but is still miniscule compared to the men’s game.

The NBA knows full well that there are a lot of lesbian players in the WNBA; the players haven’t exactly kept it a secret. And the NBA had to know that putting the Emirates’ logo on WNBA officials’ jerseys will piss off a number of players. More, it might not sit that well with the fans who actually go to the games.

But far more important than that is the UAE’s petrodollars! The WNBA is still a money loser for the NBA, while the UAE deal is just pure profit for the league. It’s all about the Benjamins!