StandUp Foundation's Ben Cohen hosts "Legalize Gay" screening tonight
The Atlanta Braves will host their second annual “Out in the Stands” event for LGBT fans of the summer classic during a Wednesday night showdown with the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 27.
This year's game will benefit Ben Cohen's StandUp foundation, an anti-bullying advocacy group based here in Atlanta. Cohen will attend the game and host a meet-and-greet session with fans, the Braves said.
The event was first organized in 2011 after Atlanta Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell was accused of using gay slurs toward fans at a game in San Francisco.
Ben Cohen's "Acceptance Tour 2011" and the Atlanta Bucks held a cocktail reception on Friday, May 20, 2011, at the Livingston Restaurant & Bar at Georgian Terrace.
Cohen, a straight rugby star from the UK, also announced his StandUp Foundation, an organization dedicated to ending bullying and combating homophobia in sports, would be based in Atlanta.
Cohen, now retired, auctioned off a few jerseys as well as the last pair of "boots" he was wearing when he stepped down from the sport. The boots sold for $2,500 and thousands of more dollars were raised for the foundation. Brian Sims, president of Equality Pennsylvania, was with Cohen as part of the tour. Sims came out as gay in 2000 while captain of his college football team, Bloomsburg University in Division II and is the only known openly gay college football captain.
To view more photos from the event, click here.