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Seattle Sonics Owners Back Anti-Gay Marriage Group
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| Contributor | The Sunset Provision |
| Last Edited | The Sunset Provision Mar 01, 2007 08:04pm |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Friday, March 2, 2007 02:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Two members of the new Sonics ownership group are heavyweight financiers of a national political group dedicated to banning gay marriage. The ownership team also owns the WNBA's Seattle Storm.
Together, co-owners Tom Ward and Aubrey McClendon donated more than $1.1 million to Americans United to Preserve Marriage, a conservative Christian group that opposes gay marriage.
Gary Bauer who is an outspoken leader of conservative groups including the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family leads the group. According to the group, gay couples "flout marriage by using it for their own political agenda (and) cheapen the institution." As the team struggles to persuade the Legislature to support a new $500 million basketball arena in Renton, the latest revelations are adding static to the already-strained conversations with Democratic leaders who have consistently backed gay rights issues.
They also come as the National Basketball Association is attempting to define itself as a champion of diversity to counter the public relations fallout from anti-gay statements made by former NBA star Tim Hardaway. After Hardaway said in a radio interview that he hated gay people, NBA Commissioner David Stern banished him from the All-Star weekend in Las Vegas.
Sonics spokesman Jim Kneeland said the co-owners' contributions and political activity do not contradict the NBA's recent condemnation of bigotry. "First of all, (Clay Bennett), who is the managing partner in this effort, is not involved in anyway," Kneeland said. "I won't argue that some of the owners may have more conservative political views than the norm out here; one of the things that they agreed to when they bought the team is that they would leave their politics at the state line," Kneeland said. "They have done that. They were not involved in the election cycle out here last year and have no intention of doing so."
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