On Oct. 30, the Ricketts family became the new owners of MLB team, the Chicago Cubs.

The family bought the team and Wrigley Field for $845 million.

Laura Ricketts, one of the purchasers, is an open lesbian who serves on the board for Lambda Legal, the nationwide advocacy organization for gay and lesbian rights.

The Times reported that Ricketts is now the first out individual to own a professional sports team.

In an interview with MarketToMarketLLC.com, she said:

“I came out to my family I would say early to mid 30’s. I think for a long time I wasn’t really out to myself growing up in Omaha, Neb., to a Catholic conservative family. It took me a while to come out to myself and not long after that I came out to them. I think that it really couldn’t have been a better experience. They were all immediately supportive. … I have been really, really fortunate in that regard.”

Now Laura, 42, lives with her partner in Chicago, Ill. and is one of four members serving on the Board of Directors for the Cubs.

He was born in 1945 in Massachusetts. He came out publicly as gay in his late twenties.

Monette received his B.A. from Yale in 1967 and dedicated himself to the writing of poetry for eight years.

He turned to fiction writing in the late 1970s and early 1980s, publishing four successful novels between 1978 and 1982.

Monette suffered a personal setback when his long-time partner, Roger Horowitz, was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s.

Horowitz died of AIDS in 1986. Monette published two memoirs in 1988 that dealt with the battle he and his partner went through after the latter was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.

Monette returned to fiction in the early 1990s with the publication of two novels about AIDS.

He died in 1995 of AIDS-related complications. He was 49.