Orlando Cruz

Featherweight boxer Orlando Cruz came out of the closet at the beginning of the month, and last night in Kissimmee, Florida, a "historic night" to quote out gay CNN and ESPN sports commentator LZ Granderson, Cruz beat Jorge Pazos, who in the end looked as if "he had walked through a car wash--face swollen, eyes slightly shut, cuts." It's Cruz's first victory since he told the world he's gay, and as Granderson puts it, in a must-read article:

I pulled for Cruz much in the same way some blacks pulled for Jackie Robinson in 1947, the way many women cheered after Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in 1973, or how some whites were glad Bird beat Magic in the 1984 NBA Finals.

I pulled for Orlando Cruz because, like him, I'm gay, and I didn't want to see the boxer who had just come out of the closet get his ass kicked in front of a live audience.

. . . . Root for the gay guy?

You damn right I did.