Bigots Lash Out After St. Louis Cardinals Announce First Pride Night
By Stephen Gossett in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 23, 2017 7:40PM
More than half of all Major League Baseball teams will have hosted an LGBT night at some point during the year by season’s end. The St. Louis Cardinals on Friday finally added themselves to the mix when it was announced that Busch Stadium would hold a Pride Night on Aug. 25. “We are thrilled the Cardinals have decided to help empower, protect, and celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community…” said Marty Zuniga, vice president of Pride St. Louis, said in a statement. It is thrilling, right?! Well, we’re sure you’ll be shocked, but for a subset of some fans, the reaction was very… bad.
The Twitter account Baseball's Best Fans—which, since 2011, has undercut the smug "Best fans in baseball" sanctimony that some Cardinals fans proffer—was there to document the backlash. It got ugly.
Stop forcing this down my throat. They got their SCOTUS ruling. I have to live with it so enough already.
— Dominic (@PropersiDominic) June 23, 2017
Tks for letting me know when not to attend
— Greg Lynn ⚾⚾⚾ (@glynn1087) June 23, 2017
No details yet on when Heterosexual Pride Night will be held. https://t.co/xI0tUkbLop
— Jason Burton (@jasonrburton) June 23, 2017
Every night is gay pride night at wrigley
— David Owen (@dwytch25) June 23, 2017
What night is illegal immigrant night at the old ballpark?
— BigBen (@btn628) June 23, 2017
The Cardinals finally caved to pressure. Sorry to see it. I won't be there.
— BigBen (@btn628) June 23, 2017
That "caved to the pressure" comment is likely a reference to the blowback that the team recently faced after they invited former Cardinal and anti-LGBT crusader Lance Berkman to speak at the team's 'Christian Day.'
This is not the first time we've seen the ugly side of Redbird Nation. There was the run-in in which fans got nasty with Ferguson protesters at a home game in 2014. More recently, we saw the "stick to sports" crowd go after former Cub and current Card Dexter Fowler after he made clear his opposition to Trump's travel ban.
In situations like this, there's a temptation for progressive-minded folks who happen to share fandom with the same team as the knuckle-draggers to cry "not all (sports team) fans!" (But ask Boston fans: these reputations don't materialize out of thin air.) And there's an equally misguided instinct for fans of rival teams to reduce such nastiness to the arena of my-team-vs.-your-team, or smear an entire fanbase or city. Take it instead as a reminder that real people are truly victimized by this kind of hate speech, and how important it is that all hosts go out of their way to make their spaces welcoming.