‘It’s astounding to me how people don’t comprehend that other opinions exist,’ said a pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays, defending five of his teammates who chose not to wear LGBTQ colors on their uniforms in recognition of Pride month.
During Saturday’s game against the visiting Chicago White Sox, the Rays wore LGBTQ emblems on their hats and on the right sleeve of their jerseys in honor of the club’s 16th annual Pride Night celebration.
However, five pitchers – Jason Adam, Jalen Beeks, Brooks Raley, Jeffrey Springs and Ray Thompson – refused to partake in wearing the one-time-worn uniforms. Instead, they stuck with wearing the Rays’ traditional blue and white colors.
Adam, a reliever who spoke on behalf of the group, said ‘a lot of it comes down to faith, to like a faith-based decision.’ He also stressed that their decision was not the product of anti-gay discrimination, saying: ‘All are welcome and loved here.’
After last weekend’s game, Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash said that he and the organization ‘want to support our players that choose to wear or choose not to wear to the best of our capabilities.’
On Monday, another of the Rays’ pitchers – Nick Anderson, 31 – tweeted in support of his teammates, sharing that everyone should be allowed to have different beliefs.
‘It’s astonishing to me how people don’t understand that different beliefs exist,’ he wrote. ‘And because you have different beliefs, in no way, shape, or form does that mean you look down on that individual or think they are lesser. You can love everyone and have differing beliefs.’
Anderson followed-up on his comments by sharing a screenshot of a message that he wrote on his iPhone.
‘When I say differing beliefs, I’m talking about the people who believe everyone would wear something and if you don’t, you should burn and are a terrible person or whatever name you want to call them,’ Anderson shared on Twitter. ‘I also was saying that just because you don’t wear maybe a said “patch” doesn’t mean you think those people should burn and are terrible people.’
‘I never once said I thought gay people weren’t born gay,’ Anderson added. ‘Or that homophobia was right. So to all of you who are trying to find any little thing to twist and make someone look bad for saying something that they never said, whatever you got going on in your life making this way, just know that it will all be ok! Much love.’
On Sunday, St Louis Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty reacted to the five players on the Rays refusing to wear the Pride-customized jerseys with a two-worded tweet: ‘absolute joke.’
On the same day, Rays President Matt Silverman told the New York Times that he was happy that the event sparked important discussions among the clubhouse.
‘I’m proud of the fact we did this and so many of our players chose to wear the logo,’ Silverman said. ‘I’m also proud of the conversations we had during the run-up to this night and in the aftermath. That’s a really good byproduct of this: to be able to actually have these conversations is really valuable and rare.’
Flaherty’s tweet prompted similar conversations on social media, with followers making hypothetical arguments to share their views.
‘What if on Easter Sunday all players would be forced to wear a cross on there (sic) sleeve to symbolize the resurrection?’ one fan asked. ‘Would it be ok for players to refuse because of their religious beliefs or lack of?’
Another fan accused the five pitchers of failing a tenet of Christianity.
‘Jesus: ”This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you (John 15:12),”’ the fan tweeted. ‘Five Tampa Bay Rays: ”No thanks, it’s against my religion.”’
On Saturday’s Pride-themed night at Tropicana Field, fans who are part of the local LGBTQ community took part in pregame activities organized by the MLB franchise. Mini LGBTQ flags were additionally given out to fans, while the field’s mount and the stadium’s roof both displayed pride colors.
Afterwards, most of the discussion centered around the five pitchers who decided not to wear the logos.
‘It’s a hard decision,’ Adam told the Tampa Bay Times. ‘Because ultimately we all said what we want is them to know that all are welcome and loved here.
‘But when we put it on our bodies, I think a lot of guys decided that it’s just a lifestyle that maybe — not that they look down on anybody or think differently — it’s just that maybe we don’t want to encourage it if we believe in Jesus, who’s encouraged us to live a lifestyle that would abstain from that behavior, just like [Jesus] encourages me as a heterosexual male to abstain from sex outside of the confines of marriage. It’s no different,’ Adam added.
‘It’s not judgmental. It’s not looking down. It’s just what we believe the lifestyle he’s encouraged us to live, for our good, not to withhold. But again, we love these men and women, we care about them, and we want them to feel safe and welcome here,’ he concluded.
Rays officials described the one-night event as an ‘opt-in’ exercise and respect the difference in choices made by the players despite expressing that the preferred outcome would have been to have all the players onboard with the idea.
Outfielder and nine-year team veteran Kevin Keirmaier, who partook in wearing the LGBTQ+-themed uniforms and cap, said inclusivity was constantly taught to him in his upbringing.
‘It’s one of those things, my parents taught me to love everyone as they are, go live your life, whatever your preferences are, go be you,’ Keirmaier told the Tampa Bay Times.
‘I can’t speak for everyone who’s in here, obviously, but this is a family-friendly environment here at a big-league ball field… We just want everyone to feel welcomed and included and cheer us on. No matter what your views on anything are,’ he added.
The Rays have long supported its LGBTQ+ members, even signing an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court’s decision to strike down all state bans on same-sex marriage in 2015. The franchise has also invested in the ‘It Gets Better’ project to tackle youth bullying that targets LGBTQ+ minors in school.
Earlier this month, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis vetoed a $35million project from the Rays to build a spring training site, after the franchise publicly shared its stance on gun violence after mass shoots in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas.
‘I don’t support giving taxpayer dollars to professional sports stadiums, ‘ DeSantis told reporters on Friday, when asked about his decision to not approve of the team’s financing for its training complex.
‘Companies are free to engage or not engage with whatever discourse they want, but clearly it’s inappropriate to be doing tax dollars for professional sports stadiums. It’s also inappropriate to subsidize political activism of a private corporation,’ he added.
On May 26, the Rays tweeted in the aftermath of the ‘devastating events that took place in Uvalde, Buffalo and countless other communities across our nation’, that it stood ‘committed to actionable change and has made a $50,000 commitment to Everytown for Gun Safety’s Support Fund.’
The team also tweeted several facts and statistics on gun violence across the nation.
Earlier this year, Florida legislators passed a law, which DeSantis signed, that forbids classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.
Critics argue that the law’s true intent is to marginalize LGBTQ people and their families.