L.A. Dodgers Pride Night Imbroglio: When Inclusivity Yields Divisiveness

It seems that as we approach the one quarter mark of the 21^st century, our society has determined that every “community” (and don’t we have quite a few of those?) based on race, national origin, age, gender (or genders), sexual orientation, dietary preferences, etc., is covered by a blanket of protection from ridicule or even good-natured lampooning. Save one. Crack a joke at the expense of, criticize, or hold a light toward outright hypocrisy committed by any of these communities and you run the risk of punishment ranging minimally from a tsk, tsk, all the way through societal cancellation, or perhaps even the loss of one’s job or student status on most any college campus. Save one.

For the woke society that deems words as violence, it is still open season on one group–organized religion—and the Catholic Church in particular. The recent imbroglio down at Chavez Ravine, home of the Los Angeles Dodgers, typifies this blatant double standard of the Left. 

In recent years, Major league Baseball (MLB) teams and other sports organizations have made an effort to host special heritage or pride nights where fans of above-mentioned communities are welcomed to the stadium or arena and celebrated while in the backdrop an actual professional sporting event takes place. Make no mistake—while the teams might profess otherwise, the various celebratory designations at different home games are less about the support and encouragement for the particular group being celebrated, and more about, as infamous NY Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner once quipped, “putting fannies in the seats”.  MLB is big business and these teams want to sell overpriced tickets, souvenirs, and concessions at their 81 home games each season.

With Pride Month celebrating the LGBTQ community soon upon us, the Los Angeles Dodgers are set to continue the tradition of Pride Night for the tenth consecutive year this June 16. In fact, all Major League Baseball franchises have held or will continue to hold a Pride Night at their respective venues. The only team not to do so as yet is the Texas Rangers, and you may read into that any which way you would like. In 2023, celebrations during Pride Month would hardly raise an eyebrow anymore. While the staunchest of conservatives are not likely to fly the rainbow flag from their porch or march in the local Pride parade just yet, the LA Dodgers have caught the attention of some because of just how their Pride Night was to be celebrated and more specifically what group had been invited and was to be honored on June 16.

The Dodgers had invited The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to receive an award in an on-field ceremony at Pride Night and that did not sit well with many—especially the more conservative members of the Catholic Church. You see, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is a drag queen group who dress as Catholic nuns, and in their own words, “…use humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency and guilt that chain the human spirit.”

And while this group arguably does some good in their fundraising to support causes associated with the LGBTQ community, one person’s “irreverent wit” can easily be construed as mocking an entire religion, its officials, and its members. Some have reasonably labeled the group’s style and substance as hate and blasphemy.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and the Dodger organization became the recipients of communications of protest from Catholic parishioners, those that represent them, and at least one nationally known politician.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) in a letter to Manfred wrote:

“I write to ask whether your League wants to be “inclusive and welcoming” to Christians, and if so, why you are allowing an MLB team to honor a group that mocks Christians through diabolical parodies of our faith.”

Brian Burch, president of the Catholic advocacy organization CatholicVote , offered the following statement:

“No other religion would be treated this way — and if the Dodgers truly care about fighting bigotry and promoting inclusivity, they will retract their invite to this disgusting, offensive and dangerous hate group,” 

And as the protests piled in, the Dodgers reconsidered and the invitation to The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence was rescinded. The Dodgers offered the following statement with the disinvitation:

“Pride Night has become a meaningful tradition, highlighting not only the diversity and resilience within our fan base, but also the impactful work of extraordinary community groups. We are now aware that our inclusion of one group in particular — the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — in this year’s pride night has been the source of some controversy.”

Predictably, those perceiving the disinvitation of the Sisters to be a slight to the entire LGBTQ community, roared back in protest. Civil rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the LA LGBT Center threatened a boycott of Dodger Pride Night. Prominent politicians also joined the protest. 39 members of the California State Senate and Assembly representing LA County, LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, and LA City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, whose district includes Dodger Stadium, voiced their outrage. Hernandez posted on Twitter: “Los Angeles must be a place where everyone feels empowered to express themselves, and this move undermines that.”

Los Angeles must be a place where everyone feels empowered to express themselves, and this move undermines that.

— Eunisses Hernandez (@EunissesH) May 18, 2023

Well, Councilwoman Hernandez, that all depends on who is doing the expressing and about whom that expressing is directed, doesn’t it?

So……., the Dodgers did an about-about face (I believe that’s a full 360) and re-invited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to receive their on-field award on Dodger Pride Night offering the following apology:

“The Dodgers would like to offer our sincerest apologies to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, members of the LGBTQ+ community and their friends and families. We have asked the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to take their place on the field at our 10th annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night.”

Hmmmm. Since when did all these efforts for inclusivity yield so much divisiveness? Why couldn’t the Dodgers hold their Pride Night, celebrate the LGBTQ community, and reap the financial benefits of “more fannies in the seats” as it were, without recognizing and then kowtowing to a group that so obviously mocks an entire religion with their over-the-top parody presentation in order to score their political points?

Here’s another query for the Dodgers: In addition to Pride Night, Black Heritage Night, Viva Los Dodgers Night, Japanese Heritage Night, Korean Heritage Night, Filipino Heritage Night, Women’s Night, Salvadoran Heritage Night, Armenian Heritage Night, Dia De Los Dodgers Night, Guatemalan Heritage Night, and Nurses Night, where is the Catholic Dodgers Night?  With 81 home games, surely there is enough room for a Dodger Catholic Night with perhaps a Pope Francis bobblehead giveaway?

Maybe it’s time to evaluate whether all these special nights at our sports stadiums and arenas recognizing so many different “communities” should come to an end.  Invariably you are going to offend somebody by a group’s inclusion and by the same token offend via an exclusion or omission. How about we return to the days when we went to a ball game to see a ball game, and the sports franchise would survive and thrive by virtue of putting a good team on the field in a fan-friendly atmosphere—nothing more, nothing less.

That said, we mustn’t do away with Bring your dog to the ballpark night where both pure breeds and mutts alike are recognized and celebrated for their awesomeness. #woof.