“ESPN”

Caitlyn Jenner Receives the ESPYs’ Arthur Ashe Courage Award

Caitlyn Jenner, 2015 ESPYs (JustJared)

Caitlyn Jenner, 2015 ESPYs (JustJared)

Happy Friday! The ESPYs aired last night, and all anyone can talk about is Caitlyn Jenner receiving the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. Named for tennis great/AIDS victim Ashe, the award is given to individuals whose actions “transcend sports,” and has been awarded since 1993.

It was her first public appearance at a major awards event, and she killed. Jenner gave a speech that highlighted her personal journey to self-acceptance as a transwoman. She also talked about her fellow athletes’ responsibility to crew the change:

How do we start? We start with education. I was fortunate to meet Arthur Ashe a few times, and I know how important education was to him. Learn as much as you can about another person to understand them better.

Jenner later spoke about how her transition felt, and what the trans community needs from larger society:

But this transition has been harder on me than anything I could imagine. And that’s the case for so many others besides me. For that reason alone, trans people deserve something vital. They deserve your respect. And from that respect comes a more compassionate community, a more empathetic society and a better world for all of us.

Jenner is the first transwoman to receive the award.

Brittney Griner/Glory Johnson Annulment: How Many Same-Sex Marriages End?

Glory Johnson and Brittney Griner (Forward Times Online)

Glory Johnson and Brittney Griner (Forward Times Online)

Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner filed for an annulment from her wife Glory Johnson, who plays for the Tulsa Shock. The two WNBA stars married May 8th, and Johnson announced her pregnancy June 4th.

With acceptance of same-sex marriage gaining ground, divorce will naturally follow. But how many same-sex marriages end?

It’s hard, and probably too early, to find concrete and up-to-date statistics on this. In 2011, UCLA’s Williams Institute found that same-sex couples who’ve formalized their commitment had a divorce rate of 1%+. This is lower than the annual divorce rate of heterosexual married couples, which is 2%.

Around 150K same-sex couples have married or otherwise committed to each other, so that would mean around 3K same-sex couples divorce each year. I couldn’t find any stats solely for annulments.

But in 2013, Pew Research Center’s FactTank found that same-sex marriages numbered around 71K+. It did take into account that there might be some underreporting going on.

As time passes and more same-sex marriages and divorces/annulments/separations are recorded, we’ll be able to see a clearer picture of any trends.