When ESPN aired the Professional Bowlers’ Association Chameleon Championship earlier this month, fans got a surprise chance to witness history. It was the first time the sports network showed a gay couple kissing.
The network aired the championship Jan. 5, nearly two months after Scott Norton actually won the 2012 Chameleon Championship, which means the kiss was not aired live and therefore did not “surprise” the cameramen on location.
In the video, viewers witnessed Norton break down in tears after beating Jason Belmonte to take the Chameleon Championship. As the crowd cheers, he hugs Belmonte and then at the 2:10 mark hugs and quickly kisses husband Craig Woodward to an audible gasp from the crowd.
“Our airing of Scott Norton’s spontaneous moment with his husband was about capturing the emotion of the victory, as we would with any bowler celebrating with his or her family,” Marcia Keegan, ESPN’s vice president of production, said in a statement.
While a same-sex kiss following a bowling championship didn’t bring in the viewership as, say, an NFL game, it still has a large following on ESPN, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company.
Norton spoke with the Huffington Post following the on-air kiss and said he was surprised that the innocent peck became such a popular news item in the beginning of the new year.
“I didn’t even know anything was going to come from it,” Norton told the paper. “It happened on Sunday and then nothing came of it. And then it exploded and all the credit goes to Jaime Perez and the International Art of Bowling for all they’ve done. They’ve really turned this into something special.”
While gay marriage and homosexuality in general have slowly inched their way into mainstream national acceptance, the sports world in general still hasn’t budged much.
No active athlete in a major sport has publicly come out as gay.
Norton came out in 2011 and married Woodward, in October 2011. Norton is a 30-year-old lawyer and a two-time PBA champion. Woodward is a United Healthcare executive. They are a typical, professional married couple and ESPN referred to Woodward as Norton’s husband and spouse during the broadcast.
