(RepublicanNews.org) – The Texas Rangers are under criticism from leftist groups for failing to host a Pride Night at their stadium this month. The team is the last of 30 Major League Baseball organizations not to have done so. In 2003, the Rangers did host a Pride Night in which they invited a number of LGBTQ+ groups to be featured at a game, but fans met the invites with protests. At the time, the team was under different ownership.
As the Rangers are being attacked for not having Pride Night, the Los Angeles Dodgers are under fire for what unfolded at theirs. On June 16th, the Dodgers hosted The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an LGBTQ+ chapter of bearded men that wear makeup and dress as nuns. As the Sisters were on the field, thousands gathered outside the stadium to protest. Entrances were blocked and the stadium sat largely empty.
A former Rangers employee who is critical of the executive board called the team’s silence on the LGBTQ+ issue “deafening” and “ridiculous.”
A current employee who identifies as gay said they believe most people within the organization want to see Pride Nights at their games, but that there is “resistance” to doing so from an owner who is “opposed at the top.”
Current owner Ray Davis is a longtime donor to Republican candidates and conservative causes. In 2018 a Dallas paper published an opinion piece that criticized the businessman for allowing God Bless America and God Bless the USA to be played during seventh-inning stretches. The column also condemned the owner for marketing to church groups, hosting Christian concerts, and never featuring same-gendered couples on the Rangers kiss cam.
In a statement directed at the Dodgers following the Los Angeles protests the Rangers said they were committed to making “everyone feel welcome.” The statement ended with a reminder that the Rangers were sponsors of the NAGAAA Gay Softball World Series in 2022.
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