This week a few Giants baseball players took issue with the ball caps they were asked to wear upon their heads for the Pride Celebration in San Francisco. They decided to write Genesis 9:12-16 on their caps next to the team logo on their cap that was printed in the rainbow colors symbolizing the Pride Movement.

Since the game, where the players displayed this religious (protest?) the players were given a stern warning about marking up their uniform as that is against league rules. Now the justice department in all of its christian nationalist glory is investigating the league for violating their civil rights. It is all pretty laughable, because wearing the cap with the pride colors was a choice. If they were uncomfortable wearing the pride hat, they could wear the standard cap. No issue. No rights were violated. We just have three ball players that have no understanding of the city they play in, nor the issue of civil rights of the people they were protesting against with their little charade. My dissent is with their use of the bible verse on the hats to make them look like they were the victims. Like they were forced to accept something they are not comfortable with (despite the option to wear the standard cap.)

We have a few very closeted and ignorant players on the San Francisco Giants that are not comfortable with the LGBTQA Pride festival that takes place during the month of June. The gentlemen in question obviously do not understand the purpose of Pride. I imagine they do not understand the purpose of Black History Month, or any Latin American holiday celebrated by the MLB or any other professional sports organization. As white heterosexual men, they have never been rebuked for who they are. From this standpoint the players exercised bad judgement. They are young: 27, 30, and 32. They have had lives of privilege thanks to the game they have worked so hard to be successful at. Obviously awareness of anything beyond baseball might be out of their range of experience. It is possible.

The city of San Francisco has always been my understood geographic center of gay culture since I became aware of it in my adolescence. I was ten when Harvey Milk was assassinated. I did not understand what that meant then, but as I grew up it became abundantly clear what his life meant to the LGBTQA community. I remember watching the film The World According to Garp, and then I read the book the film was based on by John Irving. I was a sophomore in high school at that time. This was my first experience with characters that identified as transsexual. John Lithgow played the character Roberta Muldoon in the film. His performance was eloquent, human, and spot on to Irving’s writing. The Irving book was published in 1978. The film was released in 1982. I watched and read both in 1984 in the heart of the Reagan years as he was ignoring the AID’s epidemic. I have watched this history of violence and hatred toward the LGBTQA community from the back seat. In college as a performing arts major I saw the abuse from the front seats. Pride has been something to embrace for years. I don’t understand how young men like these Giants players can be so blind to the community they play for and its rich, violent, storied, and countercultural history.

Now let’s look at the bible verse. This is from the New International Version.

¹² And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³ I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶ Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

Here is where I think the boys lose any argument they had over the Pride hat that they marked up. This particular set of verses is from the Noah’s Ark Metaphorical Narrative. The rainbow is a symbol that God will not destroy Earth again as it is a sign of the covenant between God and “ALL LIVING CREATURES” of “EVERY KIND.” This includes all of the LGBTQA community. When these words were written same sex couples, intersex people, and transgendered people already existed. These bible verses do not protest against the LGBTQA community in anyway. This particular translation does not exclude.

Could the men be saying that the rainbow is only addressing their idea of “all living creatures” excluding the LGBTQA? Maybe. I don’t feel they thought the choice through. I don’t feel they have given much thought to the passage or the historical context of the bible as a man made document. To be honest I find their protest to be immature. The rainbow is a universal symbol for love and inclusiveness throughout history. This protest wasn’t thought out. I think they allowed their bias to speak without a filter. Whereas Colin Kaepernick’s protest was very thought out, and the justice department didn’t come out to defend him. Instead every knuckle dragging flag waving christian nationalist called him every degrading adjective the dictionary contains and then some. Kaepernick never vandalized his uniform. He knelt in protest. He used a sign of reverence to call for justice. A justice we ignore often in the Pledge of Allegiance. A justice missing in the Star Spangled Banner (specifically verse three.) ⁠

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave,
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:

As for the justice department investigating the MLB for violating the free speech rights of these ball players. This is just another deflection and projection of christian nationalism against a marginalized segment of society. Any excuse to not release the Epstein files. The ball players in question did not have their civil rights violated. They were not prevented from holding their beliefs. They were simply asked not to vandalize an MLB uniform in any way. This includes writing bible verses upon said uniform. These young men were not suspended or fined. They did not get blackballed by the league. Their livelihoods are very much intact, as is their privilege. I hope they are embarrassed by their decision.

This entire made for television and press event reminds me of a time when my father made a comment about a gay couple that had entered his flooring store. My father was conditioned by religion to hold bias. I happened to be working with him that day in his store. I took care of the customers (male couple.) They bought over two thousand square feet of flooring from my dad the next week. I informed my father that money does not discriminate. The people that have the money that spend it do. If you treat every customer coming in this door as if they are your brother, sister, or child, that group of people will rally around your business. That was the day, my dad understood what pride meant. He grew that day, because he finally understood what I learned fully in college, that we just want to love and be loved for who we are. We want to be welcomed for who we are in any business or establishment or sports arena. My dad’s business slowly grew. His clientele diversified. His changed mindset led to a happier man. I admired my father more for that step forward than anything. If he were alive today, I think he would go to a Pride Festival with me, and celebrate the love.

I dissent with the attempts by people to squash or protest Pride. I dissent with anyone who wishes to squash or protest the Juneteenth celebrations that took place today. Both celebrations matter. They create a line that we should never go back to. We need to celebrate these events to demonstrate equality, fairness, and love for one another. We need to strive to make the USA inclusive once again. Happy Pride!! Happy Juneteenth!!! and Happy Birthday to my wife!!!

…so it goes…