From The Associated Press:

A number of Tampa Bay Rays players decided not to wear rainbow-colored logos on their uniforms as part of the team’s annual “Pride Night” on Saturday that recognized the LGBTQ community.

Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash addressed it after Sunday’s game, saying he doesn’t think it’ll negatively impact the clubhouse because discussions among the players over past few weeks were constructive and emphasized the value of differing perspectives.

…

Reliever Jason Adam was among those who opted out, and said it was a “faith-based decision” for him.

“It’s just what we believe the lifestyle he’s (Jesus) encouraged us to live for our good, not to withhold,” Adam told the Tampa Bay Times. “But we love these men and women, we care about them and we want them to feel safe and welcome here.”

It seems like this story pops up once per year. There were previous issues with a religious player on the United States women’s soccer team who didn’t want to do a Pride Night thing, which became a big topic because the USWNT is probably the most progressive sporting group in the entire country. Major League Baseball, not so much, which makes me not surprised to hear that multiple players didn’t want to have anything to do with this.

This reminds me a little bit of the Matisse Thybulle vaccination story. He had a choice whether to get the 2nd COVID shot or not, decided not to, and exercised his personal choice in the process. It’s an individual decision for him, but one that was very unpopular in a blue area of the country where he plies his trade, so he was obviously going to get push back.

Pride Night non-participation will probably result in exponentially more backlash for these Tampa guys, because while the COVID thing is seen as more of a culture war, most people now classify LGBTQ topics as civil rights issues and push against the “cultural” description. Vaccination can still be regarded as a difference of opinion across a broad spectrum of the population, but over the years you’ve seen the formation of a non-negotiable stance on gay rights. People will tell you there’s no such thing as “differing perspectives,” as Kevin Cash says, because there is only right and wrong, i.e. you either support LGBTQ rights or you don’t, without the gray area in the middle.

For Tampa, it screws up any positive message the franchise wanted to send this weekend, because now the big topic is the players who didn’t participate. And whatever goodwill you’ve created with LGBTQ fans, assuming the Rays actually have fans, kind of goes out the window because you’re asking people to cheer for a team that they know employs players who don’t support them. You could simply not do Pride Night, but then people would ask why the other baseball team is doing Pride Night and you aren’t. It all turns into a big catch-22 type of clusterfuck.