As the New England Patriots and the region gear up for the Super Bowl this Sunday against the LA Rams, the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus has challenged its West Coast counterpart to a super vocal challenge: a Patriots win means the LA Gay Men’s Chorus must perform “Please Come to Boston,” by Dave Loggins. But should the Rams win, the BGMC will perform Randy Newman’s “I Love LA” and make it available online.
Says the BCMC press release:
The winner will also make a donation to GALA Choruses, the North American association serving the LGBTQ choral movement, for its work supporting emerging LGBTQ choruses.
“This is a friendly wager, but we take this Boston-LA rivalry very seriously. In their many championship games against the Los Angeles Lakers throughout the 1980s, the Boston Celtics showed us that it’s always better to ‘Beat LA’,” said BGMC Executive Director Craig Coogan.
“This will be a great series between two amazing teams,” said Jonathan Weedman, executive director of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles. “But we’re shipping the musical arrangement for “I Love LA” to Boston today because the Rams are going to win!”
Both the Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots are among the National Football League’s most LGBTQ-friendly clubs. In 2014, the Rams drafted openly gay rookie prospect Michael Sam. In 2017, the club helped underwrite the costs of a rainbow light installation in Venice for Pride Month. And the organization’s vice-president of community affairs and engagement, Molly Higgins, is openly gay.
Last year, the Patriots publicly backed Question 3 on the Massachusetts ballot, which protected the state’s 2016 transgender civil rights law from being overturned and contributed financially to the campaign. The club also signed an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of marriage equality in the 2015 case Obergefell v. Hodges, which struck down state anti-gay marriage laws. In 2017, the Patriots became the first NFL team to sponsor the FLAG Football Gay Bowl with a $25,000 donation. That same year, the team hosted 15 youth from BAGLY (Boston Area Gay and Lesbian Youth) at Gillette Stadium to meet former Patriots offensive tackle Ryan O’Callaghan, who came out publicly as gay in June 2017. In 2015, the family foundation of Patriots owner Robert K. Kraft, a longtime supporter of LGBTQ causes, contributed a $100,000 gift to BAGLY.
The Big Game Challenge follows last fall’s 2018 World Series Challenge between the two choral organizations, which saw the Boston Red Sox defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers. (Check out the LA chorus’s online performance of “Sweet Caroline” right here.)
For more on the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus, including upcoming concerts, tours and other events, go to bgmc.org.
