By Jimmy Carlton Sportswriter Published Mar 01, 2018 at 2:02 PM

Last season, after an employee posted a moving message on LinkedIn about his personal journey and obstacles overcome as a gay man working in professional sports, reflecting on the team’s acceptance, encouragement and support, the Milwaukee Bucks hosted their first annual Pride Night. And now, they’re doing it again.

The Bucks announced their 2018 Pride Night game on Friday, March 2 when Milwaukee takes on the Indiana Pacers at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. In partnership with the Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce, the event, presented by Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network, will celebrate love and respect by highlighting members of the local LGBT community throughout the game. The night will include a halftime performance by City of Festivals Men’s Chorus, a local singing group for gay and affirming men.

"Diversity and inclusion are important aspects of the Bucks and our community and we look forward to celebrating that on Friday," said Bucks President Peter Feigin. "This will mark our second consecutive year of Pride Night and we thank our partners at the Froedtert health network."

It was sales associate Nick Cottrell’s "big idea" that the team then turned into a reality for last year’s inaugural event. Both the Bucks and Froedtert & MCW are platinum members of the Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce, a Milwaukee-based organization that provides networking opportunities, business development efforts within the LGBTQ community and educational programming to its members and allies with the goal of growing a pro-fairness local business environment.

"The richness of diversity in our community is something to be treasured, and we are proud to be part of this celebration," said Andres Gonzalez, Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer of Froedtert Health. "Our health network is committed to equity and inclusiveness for all."

Like last year, the Bucks are offering a Pride Night package, which includes a ticket to the game and a limited-edition t-shirt, starting at $19. For more information, click here.

Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.

After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.

Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.