{"id":365033,"date":"2026-06-18T01:09:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T01:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/365033\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T01:09:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T01:09:22","slug":"giants-players-pride-night-protest-sparks-backlash-from-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/365033\/","title":{"rendered":"Giants players’ Pride Night protest sparks backlash from all"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The controversy around the Pride Night<\/a> protest by three San Francisco Giants pitchers continues to grow. <\/p>\n

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) entered the fray Tuesday, demanding answers from Major League Baseball after it issued warnings to Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker about writing on their uniforms. The players added a Bible verse on their specialty caps for the night.<\/p>\n

In a letter<\/a> addressed to MLB commissioner Robert Manfred, the Republican senator also accused the league of \u201ca pattern of discrimination … against baseball players who profess their Christian faith.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI write with grave concern over your reported decision to issue a formal warning to three Major League Baseball (MLB) players for publicly expressing their Christian faith,\u201d Hawley says in his letter. \u201cMLB has said this is a content-neutral policy and that MLB \u2018respect[s] players\u2019 right to free expression.\u2019 But this is dubious, given that MLB is openly promoting a political viewpoint and possibly compelling adherence to that viewpoint.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Missouri senator referenced the league\u2019s \u201csweeping, judicially manufactured exemption from the federal antitrust laws\u201d as justification for his inquiries. <\/p>\n

A number of other Republican politicians also called out MLB for its actions, including North Carolina Rep. Greg Murphy<\/a>, Florida Atty. Gen. James Uthmeier<\/a> and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cTrump won we don\u2019t have to do this anymore,\u201d Vice President JD Vance wrote on social media<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"the <\/p>\n

The San Francisco Giants\u2019 pride logo is displayed on the scoreboard at Oracle Park before its Pride Night game against the Chicago Cubs. <\/p>\n

(Scott Marshall \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

In Friday\u2019s Pride Night game against the Chicago Cubs, Roupp, the Giants\u2019 starting pitcher, wore a hat with \u201cGen 9:12-16\u201d written alongside the rainbow \u201cSF\u201d logo. Relief pitchers Brubaker and Walker also added similar references to the Old Testament passage about rainbows being a \u201ccovenant between God and every living creature\u201d on their caps. (Fellow Giants pitcher Sam Hentges chose to wear a cap with the team\u2019s standard logo instead of the Pride Night version.) <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just kind of something I believe in, and I stand firm in that,\u201d Roupp told reporters<\/a> after the game. \u201cI\u2019m thankful we live in a country where, you know, we have the freedom to believe what we want … and express what we want. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe verse says … the rainbow is a symbol of God\u2019s covenant to us, and us as believers to stand firm in that,\u201d he added after confirming he never had previously inscribed it on his cap before. \u201cThere\u2019s no hate at all. It\u2019s just what I stand for and what I stand in. I believe in God, and that\u2019s me.\u201d <\/p>\n

Rainbows have been associated with LGBTQ+ pride since the rainbow flag was introduced by activists and artists in San Francisco in the 1970s. The verse Roupp mentions often is cited by Christian conservatives in their effort to \u201creclaim\u201d the rainbow\u2019s symbolism. (Former Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw<\/a> added the same Bible verse to his Pride Night cap last season.) <\/p>\n

Following the Pride Night actions of Roupp and his fellow Giants pitchers, the team\u2019s fans, members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies expressed their hurt<\/a>, anger and disappointment<\/a> in the players and the organization. The Giants have a history of supporting the LGBTQ+ community and causes. <\/p>\n

The MLB issued the players who added inscriptions to their caps a warning Monday for violating the league\u2019s uniform policy. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo be clear, this routine verbal warning not to wear the hat in future games is not disciplinary and had absolutely nothing to do with the content of the message,\u201d MLB clarified in a widely reported<\/a> follow-up statement issued Tuesday. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe respect players\u2019 right to free expression. However, writing of any kind, with any message, is prohibited per Major League Baseball\u2019s Uniform Regulations which provides in part that, \u2018(a) Player may not write, attach, affix, embroider or otherwise display nicknames or messages on apparel or playing equipment\u2026\u2019. We have given the same warning numerous times in the past to players for messages such as \u2018Dad\u2019, \u2018Happy Mother\u2019s Day, I Love Mom,\u2019 and names of family members.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"the <\/p>\n

A number of fans expressed anger and disappointment after the actions by pitchers for the Giants, a team with a history of supporting the LGBTQ+ community and causes. <\/p>\n

(Scott Marshall \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

The Giants have not addressed the fallout beyond their statement following the game Friday. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe San Francisco Giants are proud to support Pride Night and the LGBTQ+ community. Baseball should be a place where everyone feels welcome, respected, and valued,\u201d the statement provided to numerous<\/a> outlets<\/a> reads. \u201cWe also respect that individuals may make personal choices about participating in team activations. We understand that the choices by individual players has caused pain and anger to many in the LGBTQ+ community and we are sorry for that. Those choices do not change our organization\u2019s commitment to inclusion, belonging, and creating a welcoming environment for all. We remain grateful to our fans, partners, employees, players and coaches who help make Pride Night a meaningful celebration.\u201d <\/p>\n

The team was among the first in professional sports to host an HIV\/AIDS awareness game in the 1990s and the first MLB team to incorporate the Pride rainbow in its on-field uniforms for its Pride game in 2021.<\/p>\n

California state Sen. Scott Wiener has continued to call out both the Giants<\/a> and Republican politicians<\/a> regarding the Pride Night protest and the aftermath. <\/p>\n

\u201cMAGA leaders like JD Vance and Josh Hawley are now glomming on and declaring an anti-LGBTQ culture war, in an attempt to bully MLB from enforcing its rules,\u201d Wiener wrote in an lengthy post on social media, calling them out for their \u201cBigotry against LGBTQ people.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t an issue of religious freedom. People have a right to whatever religious beliefs they want \u2014 even if those beliefs dehumanize other people \u2014 but they don\u2019t have a right to hijack their employer to promote those hateful beliefs at a job-related event.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The controversy around the Pride Night protest by three San Francisco Giants pitchers continues to grow. Sen. Josh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[70675,148149,14876,15690,3834,4446,1334,148154,148152,148150,54174,15157,101,148153,103,102,104,106,105,148151,427],"class_list":["post-365033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-anger","tag-giants-player","tag-god","tag-lgbtq-community","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-message","tag-mlb","tag-personal-choice","tag-pitcher-roupp","tag-pride-night-protest","tag-rainbow","tag-right","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-giants-pitcher","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-specialty-cap","tag-team"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}