Karl-Anthony Towns personally welcomed fans of the Minnesota Timberwolves to the team’s LGBTQ Pride Night, sharing a message over the microphone and putting himself out there as a strong supporter of the community.
As reported by StarTribune sportswriter Chris Hine, Towns also personally invited Twin Cities Pride executive director Andi Otto and his family to be his guests at the game, meeting with them afterward.
Towns reposted a photo from the post-game meet-up on Instagram:
Get off the sidelines and into the game
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“The community doesn’t see a lot of athletes who stand up and are welcoming to the community, so to have him express how important it is, it’s amazing,” Otto told Hine.
To honor the LGBTQ community, the Timberwolves also had LGBTQ National Anthem performers, DJ and featured chef for their Pride Night.
Towns, a three-time NBA All-Star, was the first overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft after playing two seasons with the Kentucky Wildcats.
Towns’ teammate, Anthony Edwards, had an issue in 2022 when he used “queer” as a slur to demean some gay men in a social-media video. Edwards promised to make amends and work with the community, but nothing has been shared publicly. The NBA fined him $40,000.
The Timberwolves are currently atop the NBA Western Conference standings.
Hine, for his part, is one of the most prominent publicly out gay sportswriters in America, having honed his craft at the Chicago Tribune. Hine was named to Outsports’ Power 100 last year.
