June is Pride Month in the United States, allowing for a time to celebrate LGBTQIA+ culture and advocate for equal rights. As a result, teams throughout Major League Baseball typically celebrate and recognize the LGBTQIA+ community at their ballparks this month during the month. One team, however, typically refuses to hold such an event.
The Texas Rangers have a history of declining to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community during Pride Month. This year, the team once again has no plans to host a Pride Night or any other sort of promotional game supporting Pride throughout June. Instead, however, the team is hosting a “Faith & Family Night” promotion.
Faith and Family Day
While all 29 other teams throughout the league are hosting some sort of Pride celebration at their ballparks throughout June, the Rangers are once again refusing. Isntead, however, the team has decided to host a “Faith and Family Night” game.
The game, which is actually scheduled to be a day game at June 18 at 1:35 PM against the Minnesota Twins, will feature “personal testimoties” from players on the roster, according to the team website.
“Join us for a special afternoon of community, connection, and celebration. Tickets purchased through this offer include an exclusive experience featuring personal testimonies from Rangers players Wyatt Langford, Josh Jung, Cody Bradford, Jacob Latz, Jalen Beeks, and others, sharing how faith impacts their lives both on and off the field,” the Rangers team website reads.
The Rangers have not celebrated Pride Month in any capacity in over two decades. The team did invite several LGBTQIA+ groups to the ballpark back in 2003, but it was not officially marketed as any specific promotion and was met with protests. The team has not hosted a similar event since.
‘Malicious and Not Subtle’
While there is nothing wrong with hosting a “Faith and Family” celebration at the ballpark in a vacuum, the fact that it is clearly being done in place of a Pride Month event has drawn criticism.
San Antonio Spurs reporter Ty Jäger called the decision to host the event in lieu of a Pride Night “malicious” and “not subtle.”
“The Rangers have repeatedly done this year after year. Not only do they not acknowledge the existence of Pride or their LGBTQ+ fans, they also purposely invite religious, anti-LGBTQ groups to attend their games during the month. It’s malicious & not subtle,” he wrote in a post on X.
As others have pointed out, other teams throughout the league host similar events while also still hosting Pride Month events.
The Houston Astros, for example, have hosted a “Faith and Family Night” for years in addition to their annual Pride Night celebrations. The Faith and Family promotions include “player testimonies followed by a Christian-themed Friday Night Fireworks Show.”
The Rangers are unique in that they host their “Faith and Family” event during Pride Month while continually refusing to host a Pride Month celebration at the ballpark, which has led to the criticism.
About Dave Kelsey
Contributing author to The Comeback.