Northwestern wide receiver Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman made both a fashion statement and one of allyship when he he wore a shirt with rainbow pride colors symbolizing support for the LGBTQ community prior to a Wildcats’ game.
Outsports reader Kevin Sherry alerted us to this cool image of Chiaokhiao-Bowman by NU_Sports rocking the rainbow NU shirt and that Sherry posted on Twitter:
I did a double take on Saturday when I saw the pic of Northwestern University’s @ocmaudib that @nu_sports posted. I’ve never seen a college football player wear gear with a rainbow stripe. That’s so powerful. That’s #allyship. Go Cats! #PurplePride
I did a double take on Saturday when I saw the pic of Northwestern University’s @ocmaudib that @nu_sports posted. I’ve never seen a college football player wear gear with a rainbow stripe. That’s so powerful. That’s #allyship. Go Cats! #PurplePride pic.twitter.com/Yd4SNQE5dO
— Kevin F. Sherry (@KevinFSherry) November 24, 2020
The 6-2 senior receiver noticed Sherry’s tweet and posted a reply (which has gotten 1,300 likes) stating why he wore the shirt:
appreciate u! but just wearing a shirt is the least we can do as ally’s for any marginalized group… let’s continue to work, educate and raise awareness
appreciate u! but just wearing a shirt is the least we can do as ally’s for any marginalized group… let’s continue to work, educate and raise awareness💜 https://t.co/FRRZq9d9Oh
— Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman (@ocmaudib) November 25, 2020
The shirt unified fans of the 5-0 Wildcats, a surprise team this year and ranked No. 11 nationally heading into their game with Michigan State.
Guy Benson, the political editor of the conservative website Townhall, wrote, “As a gay man, allow me to say this: ‘Please keep catching TDs & Go ‘Cats!!’”
Los Angeles Chargers running back Justin Jackson, a former Wildcat who is very progressive politically, congratulated his former teammate, writing, “Leadership! Love to see it bro.”
The shirt has given some good karma to Chiaokhiao-Bowman, who has caught four touchdowns in the last two games. I am not sure exactly for what game he wore it but it appears sometime in the past two weeks.
These kinds of shows of support are important in a sport like college football, which in this season truncated by the coronavirus, has no openly gay or bi players on any major program. It reminds me of the Pomona-Pitzer players last season who wore rainbow decals on their helmets in honor of LGBTQ student-athletes, including Jack Storrs, a linebacker and one of the team captains, who identifies as bi.
I hope Chiaokhiao-Bowman keeps on wearing the shirt and the Wildcats stay undefeated.
