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Media
Articles:
 TIME
MAY 21, 2001 VOL 157 NO 20
 THE BLEACHERS
L.A. Sparks Come Up
With
a Bright Idea
-- BY AMANDA BOWER
Girl Bar founders with Sparks
president and players
Girl
Bar founders with Sparks president and players Lesbians
have long been the unmentioned multitude in the WNBA,
a sport that prefers to target itself to families. But
the L.A. Sparks are finally turning the light on that
part of their fan base. The change began May 4, when
Girl Bar, a lesbian dance club, held a preseason pep
rally. Members lined up to meet players (but not star
Lisa Leslie, who apparently had a prior engagement)
and buy season tickets. The partnership will continue
June 5, after the Sparks' first home game, when
players will attend a cocktail party with Girl Bar
members; the Sparks' June 14 game is designated
"Gay Pride Kick-Off," also in connection
with Girl Bar.
The outreach is a far cry
from 1999, when GWENN A. BALDWIN of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center paid
about $16,000 to sponsor the Sparks but withdrew after the team's marketing
staff objected to the words GAY AND LESBIAN FAMILIES on a billboard. While the
folks in Los Angeles are receiving all the attention, the Miami Sol are
scratching their heads at the fuss. The Sol team often appears at lesbian bars
and is helping sponsor a gay festival in South Beach--with nary a blip on the
talk-back radar.
With Reporting By Stacie Stukin/Los Angeles
©Time Magazine
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