Huffington Post Sports ran a small story this afternoon on Brittney Griner, in recognition of her nomination for “Subway Sportswoman of the Year” at the 2013 BET Awards. (Before we go on: big ups to Ms. Griner!) However, what caught our attention was the rather odd and vague original headline for the piece, which appeared in Google Reader feeds (at least mine, anyway) as “Brittney Griner, Lesbian Basketball Star, Nominated For Big Award”.
Aside from leaving us guessing which “Big Award” she was nominated for, we were puzzled as to why “Lesbian Basketball Star” was deemed the best way to identify the former Baylor star/overall #1 WNBA Draft pick/Phoenix Mercury player — especially considering an entire paragraph is devoted to Griner’s April announcement that she is gay, and notes a recent appearance at the GLAAD Media Awards. Basically, we know she’s an out lesbian, we don’t need the point hammered home.
Fortunately, a hasty(-but-not-quite-hasty-enough) edit replaced the original headline with a more appropriate identifier, along with some actual information: “Brittney Griner, WNBA Phoenix Mercury Player, Nominated For 2013 BET Award”. Next time, let’s do it right on the first go-round, HuffPo.
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