You never know who might be part of the LGBTQ community and not out. Bill Kennedy has enjoyed flamboyantly doing his job for decades and always spices things up in ways that can truly be enjoyed by LGBTQ sports fans.
At the time, the Kings’ head coach, George Karl, and general manager, Vlade Divac, apologized to Kennedy.
Kennedy is the only publicly out gay official in the NBA (Che Flores is trans, and Violet Palmer is retired).
Billy has officiated over 1420 regular season games across 25 seasons as an NBA staff official and worked on 139 playoff games.
These play-off games include six NBA Finals games.
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They have been previously picked to work some of the biggest events in basketball — the G League Finals, the WNBA Finals and the NCAA women’s national championship game.
“I just think of having younger queer kids look at somebody who’s on a high-profile stage and not using it,” Flores told GQ. “And I’m not using the league to an advantage in any way.
“The contact on the defender has been deemed . They also worked 12 games as a nonstaff official during the 2021-22 season.
“One piece I was missing for myself was that no one knew how I identified,” Flores told GQ. “Being misgendered as she/her always just felt like a little jab in the gut.
“I can go through the world and even my job a lot more comfortably,” they added.
Some NBA executives have known how Flores identifies for several months.
Rondo eventually apologized via X/Twitter and wrote, “They absolutely do not reflect my feelings toward the LGBT community. They have been previously picked to work some of the biggest events in basketball — the G League Finals, the WNBA Finals and the NCAA women’s national championship game.
“I just think of having younger queer kids look at somebody who’s on a high-profile stage and not using it,” Flores told GQ.
“And I’m not using the league to an advantage in any way.
While that’s the way it should be, it was vital for other players besides just Rondo to know that calling people bigoted names on the court is highly inappropriate.
So, Kennedy has never been uncomfortable with the bright light. We shouldn’t take all of this stuff so seriously anyway.
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During a replay review in which the referees were deciding whether there was a foul on a play involving Doncic, official Bill Kennedy took center stage and didn’t want the camera on anyone else.
I am following in the footsteps of others who have self-identified in the hopes that will send a message to young men and women in sports that you must allow no one to make you feel ashamed of who you are.
via: Yahoo! a common foul.”
Nobody knows how to work the crowd with pauses and fluctuations in his voice better than Kennedy.
Kennedy’s brave announcement was revolutionary at the time as most people don’t know a lot about sports referees’ personal lives.
Luka Doncic had 37 points and 10 assists.
In his interview, Billy said,
I am proud to be an NBA referee and I and proud to be a gay man.
Billy Kennedy Began Officiating Games When He Was 12
In June 2024, Billy sat down for an interview with ABC15’s Nick Ciletti to celebrate Pride Month.
In his interview, Billy shared a few childhood stories of him and how he became involved as a referee.
Billy loved basketball from a young age and was part of The Boys Club, where he would go, enjoy, learn, and grow as a person.
He started at eight years old, and when he turned 12, he got to referee the eight-year-old game as their referee didn’t show up.
When asked by Ciletti if he was ever scared his secret would come out and derail his entire career, Billy said,