Dale Scott And Billy Bean: The Foundation Of Major League Baseball's New Era Of Inclusion

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Wikimedia Commons and tweber1 under CC BY-SA 2.0 License.

As the dawn of the 2015 Major League Baseball draws near one thing is crystal clear: we are entering a new era of progress and inclusion.  When the bell rings on Opening Day today, not only will the game be under new leadership in the Commissioner's Office, it will also mark the beginning of a new era of inclusion.

Two key members who will hopefully serve as excellent role models for the future are Billy Bean and Dale Scott.  Bean, (not to be confused with Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane), will set sail as Major League Baseball's new Ambassador of Inclusion.  Bean also happens to be openly gay.   Dale Scott will be entering his 30th season as a Major League umpire.  That is quite an accomplishment in itself.  Oh and did I mention that Scott is also openly gay and is married to his partner of 28 years in Michael Rausch.

Unlike Bean, Scott never went to great lengths to hide his sexuality and in today's day and age frankly, that's the way it should always be.  Like the honorable Dr. Martin Luther King famously said a person should not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.  This doctrine should also apply to members of the LGBT community.

Lastly, it is my hope that the stories of Billy Bean and Dale Scott will help provide inspiration and understanding to future generations worldwide that at the end of the day, we are all simply human beings with no label required-myself included.

Tim Musick
Copyright 2015
All Rights Reserved.