On Friday, UNC gymnastics celebrated LGBTQ athletes as a part of Nike’s #BETRUE campaign.
Although the team lost 197.325-194.300 to Florida, the UNC-hosted meet broke a school record by amassing over 4,000 people in the stands decked out in rainbows and Carolina blue.
While UNC gymnastics has done a similar meet for a cause before — a 2004 meet honored a team member’s mother who was diagnosed with cancer — the goal of the #BETRUE meet was to have fun and spread awareness for the LGBTQ community in honor of former gymnastics coach Kendra Ourso, who is part of the LGBTQ community.
While the event was a highly appreciated surprise for the majority of campus, homophobia plagued the online responses to the North Carolina Tar Heels Facebook post advertising the meet.
“Grew up a UNC fan. Now I honestly wish the university would never win another game. Get this liberal PC trash out of my state.”
“Is it really about inclusion? Or pushing an agenda where an agenda doesn’t need to be pushed.”
“I’m a die hard UNC fan but I don’t like it how their (sic) supporting that Community.”
But for every negative comment, there were two positive ones.
The board commends the gymnastics team for contributing its talents to a beautiful community, and we are grateful for those who defended the UNC spirit of acceptance in the face of prejudice.
