LOS ANGELES — The Giants have been leaders in MLB in their organizational support for the gay community since they became the first team to wear pride colors on their uniforms in 2021.
Both the Giants and Dodgers will wear pride colors on the field Friday night for the Dodgers’ Pride Night, which has been particularly controversial this year because of their brief disinvitation to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — a charity that uses drag and religious imagery to satirize issues of sex, gender and morality.
The organization is viewed by opponents as offensive to their religion, and hundreds of protestors gathered in the Dodger Stadium parking lot pregame.
The Giants had their Pride Day at Oracle Park last week, which included pregame activations and ceremonies that included people from the gay community. Every member of the Giants wore pride-themed jerseys and the club gifted fans a similar replica as a giveaway.
“With respect to Pride Night, I thought it went very well in San Francisco,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “Really proud of the way our organization has handled it from beginning to end. Very proud to be wearing pride colors tonight, and a lot of our players say the same. Also very excited to see how it works in LA. Having grown up in Los Angeles, I feel like LA is an inclusive city, and I expect in the ballpark we’ll have more of that tonight.”
Kapler added that he believes and supports any sort of peaceful protest.
Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi expressed similar support for the gay community as Kapler in his weekly interview with Tolbert & Copes on KNBR.
“To me, to the Giants organization, this is not a political issue,” Zaidi said Thursday on KNBR. “Celebrating pride is about love, support, understanding, and (I’m) just really proud of our organization and our players, the way they conducted themselves.”
The Dodgers’ Pride Night controversy was fueled in part by future Hall of Fame pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who disagreed with his club’ decision to re-invite the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and decided to announce the team’s future Christian Faith Night.
Friday’s Pride Night also comes with the backdrop of MLB commissioner Rob Manfred saying that the league office has told teams to avoid wearing pride colors.
“We have told teams, in terms of actual uniforms, hats, bases that we don’t think putting logos on them is a good idea just because of the desire to protect players: not putting them in a position of doing something that may make them uncomfortable because of their personal views,” Manfred said in a press conference.
The Giants and Dodgers are reportedly the only two teams who have exemptions to a MLB guideline suggesting teams shouldn’t change their jerseys aside from league-wide observances like Jackie Robinson Day.
About an hour before first pitch, the few fans who had already filed into Dodger Stadium gave Billy Bean, the former Dodger and gay trailblazer, a round of applause.