Major League Baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals are refusing to bow to demands by homosexual activists that the team disinvite former Cardinals player Lance Berkman as the keynote speaker for the Cardinals’ planned July 30 “Christian Day,” a promotion the team has sponsored for the past 30 years. At issue is Berkman’s outspoken opposition to homosexuality and “transgender” behavior.
The Cardinals organization explained in a statement that the popular post-game event “usually features a well-known keynote speaker (often a former Cardinal or professional athlete) who talks about his or her experience of being a practicing Christian in the public arena. Lance Berkman participated in Christian Day when he was a Cardinals player, and we welcome him back this year to discuss his faith.”
In 2015 Berkman spoke out against a Houston ordinance that would allow individuals who self-identify as “transgender” to use restroom facilities opposite of their true gender. “The issue is, what to do about a 15- or 16-year-old boy who thinks he’s a girl and wants to shower with the girls,” Berkman said in an interview. “Maybe he is [transgender], maybe he’s confused. But I wouldn’t want him in the shower with my daughters. We shouldn’t have the rights of two percent of the population trump the rights of the other 98 percent.”
Additionally Berkman targeted societal tolerance of other aberrant behaviors. “To me tolerance is the virtue that’s killing this country,” he said. “We’re tolerant of everything … as long as you want to do it and as long as it feels good to you then it’s perfectly acceptable do it. Those are the kinds of things that lead you down a slippery slope, and you’ll get in trouble in a hurry.”
One group, St. Louis Pride, blasted the team for refusing to bow to the demands of homosexual activists, saying that it was “disappointed by the decision of the St. Louis Cardinals to provide a public platform for Berkman, an individual whose words and actions towards the LGBTQ+ are divisive and demeaning. We know that the Cardinals can do better, and we want to extend an offer to help them by co-organizing their official LGBT Pride Night at Busch Stadium. Let’s work together to promote love, diversity, and inclusion.”
In response, the Cardinals organization explained that it is “an inclusive organization with a social responsibility to be welcoming to all types of people and organizations. We continue to try and reach out to every part of our community, and have hosted a variety of themed events like Christian Day, Jewish Community Night, Catholic Family Night, Bosnian Heritage Night, Fiesta Cardenales, and many others.”
That inclusiveness extends to the homosexual community, with the Cardinals adding that “we are excited to announce that we will be hosting our first Pride Night later this season … which will bring members of the LGBT Community together to enjoy Cardinals baseball.”
