So much for family-friendly. A total of 23 Major League Baseball (MLB) teams have signed on to sponsor gay pride events at games during the 2018 season, with the bulk of the “inclusive” celebrations coming during June, the homosexual lobby’s long-time annual “Gay Pride” month.
The 23 MLB teams celebrating gay pride events in 2018 are the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays, Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, and the Seattle Mariners.
Among the teams giving LGBTQ “pride” an extra marketing push is the Philadelphia Phillies, with that organization’s management taking to the team website to invite fans to “celebrate Philadelphia’s rich LGBTQ culture at our second annual Pride Night Celebration at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday, June 28…. All members of the LGBT community, as well as family, friends and organizations are invited to come out and show their pride at this event.”
In St. Louis, the Cardinals organization advertised its gay day thus: “With the purchase of a special theme ticket, fans will receive a Cardinals t-shirt with a rainbow STL logo. A portion of each ticket sold will benefit Missouri Courage Scholarship, which is the first, and largest, state-wide LGBTQ scholarship organization in Missouri.”
And on June 7 the Boston Red Sox will feature a pre-game “pride party,” with the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus performing the National Anthem at that night’s game.
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This is not the first season that MLB has made a big deal out of homosexuality. Last year the organization featured a month-long gay-pride celebration, with Billy Bean, MLB’s vice president and special assistant to the commissioner, declaring, “We have such a great buy-in with the message of inclusion and acceptance around the league. I couldn’t be prouder of baseball. We’re really leading the way.”
It is no wonder that dysfunctional sexuality has taken center stage in MLB stadiums. In 2014, Bean, who is an openly homosexual former player, was named MLB’s official ambassador of inclusion, with the mission of providing “guidance and training related to efforts to support those in the [homosexual] community throughout Major League Baseball.”
If last year’s activities were any indicator, this year’s MLB gay-pride festivities will include the dutiful unfurling of rainbow flags in ball parks across America; gay-themed jerseys, hats, and other MLB-sanctioned merchandise for sale; openly homosexual men and women (and even, perhaps, cross-dressing transgenders) awkwardly throwing first pitches halfway to home plate; and young children being exposed to same-sex couples shamelessly featured on giant screens via ball park “kiss cams.”
“Society has slipped to the point that we now celebrate the sin of homosexuality in America,” said Steve McConkey of 4 Winds USA, a national outreach that takes a bold stand for Christians in athletics. One of the few athletes to publicly challenge the MLB’s shameless promotion of homosexuality, McConkey advised that “sports should not be used to further the LGBT agenda…. I would suggest that families and individuals stay away from LGBT events sponsored by sports teams.”
In Houston, the editors of the LGBTQ-themed outsmartmagazine.com appeared annoyed that the Astros, last year’s World Series champions, will not be sponsoring a homosexual pride event this year, but will be hosting a “faith-and-family night” May 19, sponsored in part by overtly Christian fast-food chain Chick-fil-A.
Quizzed by the gay website as to why the Astros decided to sidestep the endorsement of homosexuality in favor of focusing on wholesome values and traditional families, team spokeswoman Dena Propis responded that the Astros have, indeed, “had a number of members of the LGBT community sing the National Anthem consistently over the past years and have also welcomed members of the [homosexual] community as part of hosted group games or initiatives in the ballpark.”
Propis went on to explain that the team’s popular faith and family night “has featured a broad range of artists and sponsors over the years” and that “there is no correlation between our sponsor of Faith and Family and our inclusiveness of the LGBT community.”
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