Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw reportedly disagreed with team management’s decision to invite the radical anti-Catholic transgender drag queen group, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, to the team’s June 16 “Pride Night” game.
According to reports, Kershaw took his concerns to team management and asked them to accelerate the announcement of a Christian Faith and Family Day event as a response to the controversy over the team’s intention to bestow its “Community Hero” award on the anti-Catholic hate group, according to USA Today.
Last Friday, he also tweeted the announcement the team finally made about the upcoming religious event.
“Excited to announce the relaunch of Christian Faith and Family Day at Dodger Stadium on July 30th. More details to come— but we are grateful for the opportunity to talk about Jesus and determined to make it bigger and better than it was before COVID. Hope to see you on July 30th!” he tweeted.
Excited to announce the relaunch of Christian Faith and Family Day at Dodger Stadium on July 30th. More details to come— but we are grateful for the opportunity to talk about Jesus and determined to make it bigger and better than it was before COVID. Hope to see you on July 30th! pic.twitter.com/yNu7HyEgR9
— Clayton Kershaw (@ClaytonKersh22) May 26, 2023
Many still blasted Kershaw for the team’s actions.
Is the team still honoring the anti-catholic hate group that pole-dances on the cross though?
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) May 26, 2023
Are you going to reuse the cross from the blasphemous pole dance performed by the anti-Catholic hate group the Dodgers are honoring in June?
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) May 26, 2023
When you’re playing for a team that’s publicly celebrating an anti-Christian group, you should take that Bible verse out of your bio unless you’re willing to step up and do something about it. If you won’t even defend your faith to your own team, you’re letting Christians down.
— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) May 27, 2023
Still, Kershaw told the L.A. Times that he “disagreed” with ridiculing people’s faith.
“I don’t agree with making fun of other people’s religions,” Kershaw told the paper. “It has nothing to do with anything other than that. I just don’t think that, no matter what religion you are, you should make fun of somebody else’s religion. So that’s something that I definitely don’t agree with.”
“I think we were always going to do Christian Faith Day this year, but I think the timing of our announcement was sped up,” Kershaw added. “Picking a date and doing those different things was part of it as well. Yes, it was in response to the highlighting of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence [by the Dodgers].”
A member of the Sisters Of Perpetual Indulgence seen marching at the protest. Thousands of New Yorkers took to the streets of Manhattan to participate in the Reclaim Pride Coalition’s (RPC) fourth annual Queer Liberation March, where no police, politicians, or corporations were allowed to participate. (Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Kershaw also criticized the Sisters and took great pains to insist that he wasn’t criticizing the LGBTQ community as a whole.
“This has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community or pride or anything like that,” he said. “This is simply a group that was making fun of a religion, that I don’t agree with.”
But he also said he is more interested in doing the right thing than criticizing people.
“I think in these situations, instead of maybe criticizing or trying to find something wrong with a group, it’s better just to focus on what you do believe in,” Kershaw said. “For me, that’s Jesus. So I think that was our best response.”
Of course, the team made all this worse by seesawing back and forth between placating Christian fans and bowing to the radical gay lobby.
The controversy started when the Dodgers took heat for plans to give the radical hate group a “Hero” award at its June 16 Pride Night game. But initially, complaints from Catholics and Christians caused team management to disinvite the Sisters from its Gay Pride Night.
But when the radical gay lobby jumped into action, the team suddenly made another reversal and re-invited the group to game night.
Ultimately, on May 22, Dodgers President Stan Kasten proudly announced that it was re-inviting this hate group to their game despite the feelings of Catholics and Christians.
The team announced its second invite on a tweet festooned with gay pride rainbow colors and logos.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 22, 2023
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