With “Pride Month” in full swing, nearly every Major League Baseball team has posted their logos in rainbow pride colors and announced when their June Pride Night game will be scheduled.
All have, that is, but one team which has steadfastly refused to hold a gay pride night.
Despite the league’s full support for displays and pandering to the radical gay movement, the Texas Rangers have eschewed any sort of demonstrations for gay pride. For example, they do not mar their logo with rainbow colors on June first as other teams do, nor have they announced any “Pride Game” nights.
This is nothing new for the Arlington, Texas, team.
A detailed view of a bat with the Texas Rangers logo on it during the game between the Texas Rangers and the Minnesota Twins at Target Field on Friday, July 5, 2019, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
The Rangers did try an informal gay night back in 2003 when team officials invited several gay groups to what is now Globe Life Field. But the invitation drew as many protesters as it did supporters, according to Next Impulse Sports. Since then, the team has offered no LGBT events, games, days, or celebrations.
In 2021, Rangers COO Neil Leibman addressed the idea of a Pride Night game with the Dallas Morning News and insisted that changes to how the office works were more important than displays at games.
“With respect to Pride Night, we reached out to the Resource Center and said what can we do internally,” Leibman said. “We immediately adopted some changes they suggested to be more inclusive in hiring practices. I think that’s more meaningful than just saying, ‘OK, we had a Pride Night.’”
Still, the Rangers have also avoided making policies or statements specifically on Pride initiatives.
A young Texas Rangers fan gets a baseball from a staff member at Globe Life Field on August 26, 2022, in Arlington, Texas. (Emil Lippe/Getty Images)
The reluctance has brought criticism, naturally. Rafael McDonnell, who works with the activist group LGBTQ Resource Center, scolded the team, the News added.
“They’ve made some efforts, but it’s very much a start,” McDonnell told the paper. “Compared to their peer professional sports teams, they have some distance to go.”
The first team to hold a “Pride” game was the Chicago Cubs, which first held such an event in 2001. Their effort became a template every team in the league used except the Rangers.
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