The Portland Timbers and Thorns are joining the fight to legalize same sex marriage in Oregon.
The announcement today by the soccer teams' owner Merritt Paulson marks the first major U.S. professional sports teams to endorse a same sex marriage ballot campaign, according to a release by Oregon United for Marriage, which is gathering signatures to put an initiative on the 2014 ballot to overturn Measure 36, Oregon's Constitutional ban on gay marriage.
(The Seattle Mariners, however, did fly a rainbow flag in support of same sex marriage this summer)
"We are proud to support Oregon United for Marriage and its efforts to secure the freedom to marry for all Oregonians next November," Paulson says in the release.
The endorsement is yet another landmark endorsement for the 2014 ballot effort—Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle confirmed to WW earlier this month that his company was also behind Oregon United for Marriage.
WWeek 2015