Pride Night

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Martin Jones of the Seattle Kraken wears a rainbow-themed jersey during a Pride Night game in 2023.

A Pride Night is a game hosted by a sports team to recognize and attract individuals from the LGBTQ community. During such a game, the home team often acknowledges LGBTQ fans and honors certain individuals or groups. The first Pride Night was hosted by the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB) in 2000, and subsequent events have since been hosted by teams from all of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.

Description

MLB teams often dedicate certain regular season games for specific groups or for specific causes, often as a way to attract members of these communities to their games.

First Responders Night in May, and Grandparents Day in September.[1] Pride Night events, which recognize the LGBTQ community, are typically held in June, which is Pride Month.[2] In 2021, the Los Angeles Dodgers' Pride Night was one of the first Pride events to take place in the city that year.[3] Pride Night games typically see a higher turnout of LGBTQ fans than normal, with Dodgers executive Erik Braverman estimating that up to half of the audience for their 2021 event being members of the LGBTQ community.[3] During the events, LGBTQ-themed team merchandise is usually sold or given away, while LGBTQ symbols, such as pride flags and rainbow colors, are prominently displayed in the venue.[3][4]

Major League Baseball

First Pride Night events

In 1994, the

gay man from Chicago, and has been an annual occurrence ever since.[8][9]

Later developments

Oriole Park at Camden Yards during the Baltimore Orioles' Pride Night game against the Texas Rangers, June 27, 2024

In 2013, the Dodgers hosted their second

National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in an effort to help LGBTQ-owned businesses seek out MLB contracts.[7] That same year, the Tampa Bay Rays used their Pride Night to raise roughly $300,000 (equivalent to $393,000 in 2024) for a fund to help victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting, which had occurred shortly before the event.[10] In 2019, the New York Yankees honored the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall riots by unveiling a plaque at Yankee Stadium.[7] In 2021, the Oakland Athletics renamed their annual Pride Night event in honor of former baseball player and gay activist Glenn Burke,[7] who was honored the following year at the Dodgers' Pride Night.[11] In 2023, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi threw out the ceremonial first pitch during the Washington Nationals' Pride Night, which they call "Night Out".[12] That same year, the Associated Press called MLB "a leader among the four major pro U.S. sports in hosting Pride Nights, in part because its regular season overlaps with Pride Month in June".[4]

Controversies

In a 2023 article on MLB Pride Nights, the Associated Press noted that the celebrations had become a source of controversy in recent years, with some individuals criticizing the inclusivity of the LGBTQ community on religious grounds.[4]

2022 Tampa Bay Rays rainbow logo patch

During Pride Night events in 2022, three teams—the Dodgers, the Giants, and the Rays—incorporated rainbow-colored logo patches into their uniform.[10] However, multiple players for the Rays stated that they would not be wearing the patch, with relief pitcher Jason Adam calling it a "faith-based decision" on his part.[13] Writing about the decision, sports journalist Tyler Kepner stated that "by allowing the players to opt out of the promotion — and to use the platform to endorse an opposite viewpoint — the Rays undercut the message of inclusion they were trying to send".[10]

In June 2023, Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred announced that MLB had advised teams against adding rainbow motifs to their logo patches so as not to put players "in a position of doing something that may make them uncomfortable because of their personal views".[14]

2023 Los Angeles Dodgers Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence collaboration

In 2023, the Dodgers announced plans to honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence with a Community Hero Award at their Pride Night, to be held on June 16.[15] The Sisters are a San Francisco-based charity and protest group that employ religious symbolism and humor to call attention to intolerance towards LGBTQ people.[15] However, in mid-May, the Dodgers announced that they would not be honoring the group at their Pride Night, effectively disinviting the group.[15][16] The decision came after the team received significant backlash from several Catholic groups, including the Catholic League, and a letter from Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who asked if the Sisters would be "inclusive and welcoming to Christians".[15][17] Following this, several LGBTQ advocacy groups expressed disappointment with the team's disinvitation, with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and Los Angeles Pride both stating that they would not be participating in the Dodgers' Pride Night, in solidarity with the Sisters.[15] Additionally, the Los Angeles LGBT Center issued a statement saying, "Buckling to pressure from out-of-state, right-wing fundamentalists, the Dodgers caved to a religious minority that is perpetuating a false narrative about L.G.B.T.Q.+ people. They have been fed lies about the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and have therefore contributed to the ongoing, anti-L.G.B.T.Q. smear campaign happening in this country."[15] In a show of support for the Sisters, Mayor Ashleigh Aitken of Anaheim extended an invitation for them to attend the Pride Night hosted by the Anaheim-based Los Angeles Angels.[18]

Following the backlash, on May 22, the Dodgers reversed their decision and reinvited the Sisters to attend their Pride Night and receive the Community Hero Award.[18][19] The team stated that their decision came after "much thoughtful feedback" and pledged to continue to work with "LGBTQ+ partners to better educate ourselves, find ways to strengthen the ties that bind and use our platform to support all of our fans who make up the diversity of the Dodgers family."[18] Dodgers player Clayton Kershaw criticized the re-invitation, stating that, while he was not opposed to the LGBTQ community, he viewed the Sisters' satirical take on religion as offensive to Christians.[20][21][22] Additionally, three American Catholic bishops—Timothy Broglio, Timothy M. Dolan, and José Horacio Gómez—derided the Dodgers' decision as blasphemous.[23]

Texas Rangers lack of Pride Night

By 2022, every team in MLB had conducted at least one Pride Night, with the exception of the Texas Rangers.[7] This would remain the case over the next several years, as in 2024, they were the lone team out of the 30 MLB franchises that season to not hold a Pride Night.[2] The closest that the team has come to hosting a Pride Night, according to the Associated Press, was in September 2003, when the team invited several local LGBTQ groups to their venue for a fundraising event prior to a game.[24] According to the Associated Press, one reason for this could be the conservative political climate within the state of Texas, which in 2023 enacted a series of legislation targeting the LGBTQ community.[24][25] The news agency also pointed out that Ray Davis, the team's owner, has previously donated large sums of money in support of Greg Abbott, the state's conservative governor.[24] Additionally, the Associated Press noted that the location of the Rangers' stadium may play a role in their decision to not host a Pride Night.[24] While the Houston Astros, the state's only other MLB team, does host Pride Nights, their stadium is located in Houston, a populous city that largely votes for Democratic elected officials.[24] By comparison, the Rangers play in Arlington, outside of the city limits of Dallas,[24] in an area of the state that is generally more conservative than Dallas.[26] In a 2023 article in The New York Times, it was reported that the Resource Center, a local LGBTQ group, had been trying for five years at that point to host a Pride Night at the Rangers' stadium.[27]

National Basketball Association

In February 2007, the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) hosted a benefit game for Rainbow Hoops, a lesbian basketball league.[28] However, the league's first Pride Nights occurred in 2016, with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Portland Trail Blazers hosting events during the 2016–17 season.[5] That same year, the NBA participated for the first time in the NYC Pride March.[5] Starting in 2017, the league began to sell t-shirts with rainbow-colored versions of their team's logos.[29] In April 2021, the Phoenix Suns hosted a Pride Night that was the first in-person Pride Night to be held by any sports team following the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic.[29] In a 2025 report by Outsports, of the 30 NBA teams, 25 were definitely hosting a Pride Night, 4 were possibly hosting a Pride Night, and only one—the Oklahoma City Thunder—had expressly stated that they would not hold such an event.[30]

National Football League

Pride Nights among

Washington Football Team became the first NFL team to host a Pride Night event when they hosted the New York Giants.[32] Since 2021, the NFL has collaborated with GLAAD to host a "Night of Pride" celebration during the week of the Super Bowl as part of an outreach program aimed at the LGBTQ community.[33][34][35] Night of Pride events have been ongoing through 2025.[33]

National Hockey League

Jordan Spence of the Los Angeles Kings wearing a rainbow-themed jersey during a Pride Night game on March 22, 2022

The first Pride Night in the

ice hockey sticks.[37] The next season, several players on the Vancouver Canucks wore rainbow-themed jerseys during their Pride Night game on March 13, 2019.[36] By the 2022–23 season, roughly half of all NHL teams had players wear rainbow-themed jerseys during warmups on Pride Nights.[36] However, players on several teams expressed opposition to the jerseys, often on religious grounds or, in the case of Russian players, safety concerns stemming from anti-LGBTQ laws in Russia.[36][38] As a result, in mid-2023, the NHL promulgated rules barring teams from donning rainbow-themed jerseys or using rainbow-colored tape.[36]

Major League Soccer

While teams in Major League Soccer do celebrate individual Pride Nights, the league has opted to designate June as Pride Month since 2016 as part of its "Soccer For All" initiative. The first Pride Night was hosted in 2013 by the LA Galaxy, several months after defender Robbie Rogers openly came out as gay.

See also

References

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