Giants 'Pride Night' cap controversy prompts investigation into MLB for religious discrimination
Harmeet K. Dhillon, the United States Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, released a letter Thursday that she wrote to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. In the letter, Dhillon addressed the controversy over the San Francisco Giants "Pride Night" ballcaps and cited Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Dhillon has referred the matter to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which she says will further investigate MLB for religious discrimination.
In response to Giants pitchers inscribing Bible verses on their rainbow-themed caps for the team's Pride Night game against the Chicago Cubs last Friday, MLB said doing so was a violation of the league's rules and issued a warning about future violations.
On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) issued a letter to Manfred, scrutinizing the major league's public warning about the pitchers' uniform adaptations.
"You must answer for what appears to be a pattern of discrimination within MLB against baseball players who profess their Christian faith," Hawley wrote in his letter, alluding to the Washington Nationals reportedly firing a community relations executive after he was covertly taped describing a social media ban on a Catholic pitcher.
Two days after Hawley's letter made the rounds, Dhillon's circulated:
"The Civil Rights Act prohibits MLB and its franchises from unreasonably burdening the rights of players with religious objections to serving as the League's vehicle for pro-Pride messages," Dhillon wrote. "Federal law is clear: employers must modify their uniform requirements to reasonably accommodate their employees' exercise of religion.
"… MLB has asserted that its warning to the Giants players 'had absolutely nothing to do with the content of the message' and that it merely is enforcing a policy that prohibits writing on uniforms. Yet, MLB has allowed players to wear uniform patches reading 'Black Lives Matter.' This double standard — under which players may not inscribe Bible verses on hats for one game only but may wear 'Black Lives Matter' patches for one game only — calls MLB's true motives into question and raises serious concerns about MLB's compliance with Title VII. Employers may not use facially neutral polices as 'a pretext for discrimination.'"
Starter Landen Roupp, plus relievers JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker, all took the field with Bible verses written on their caps during the team's Pride Night last week. Another Giants reliever, Sam Hentges, didn't wear the Pride Night hat. He instead pitched while donning San Francisco's customary cap, which features its traditional orange lettering.
Roupp told media postgame that he had written a Bible verse from the Book of Genesis on his hat.
"It's just about God's covenant and a promise that he makes to us — his faithfulness and his mercy," the 27-year-old righty from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, said, via KNBR. "It's just something I believe in, and I stand firm in that. Thankfully we live in a country where we have the freedom to believe what we want."
While it's unclear if Hentges was warned like Roupp, Brubaker and Walker, it's worth noting that MLB rules state that "no player whose uniform does not conform to that of his teammates shall be permitted to participate in a game."
"It's just something that I feel like I was forced to support when I don't morally support it," Hentges, a 29-year-old lefty from Arden Hills, Minnesota, told reporters this past Saturday, per ESPN. "There wasn't hatred behind it. I think that's kind of something that's misinterpreted."
Hentges added: "I don't hate the LGBTQ community. It's just something I believed and talked with teammates and family, and they supported it."
Also Saturday, the day after the Giants' Pride Night game — a 5-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs — the organization put out a statement addressing the "pain and anger" that was caused, as reported by ESPN.
"The San Francisco Giants are proud to support Pride Night and the LGBTQ+ community," that statement read, via ESPN. "Baseball should be a place where everyone feels welcome, respected, and valued. We also respect that individuals may make personal choices about participating in team activations.
"We understand that the choices by individual players have caused pain and anger to many in the LGBTQ+ community and we are sorry for that. Those choices do not change our organization's commitment to inclusion, belonging, and creating a welcoming environment for all. We remain grateful to our fans, partners, employees, players, and coaches who help make Pride Night a meaningful celebration."
Notably, earlier this week, the York Revolution, a minor-league team playing independent baseball in Pennsylvania, announced that it forfeited its Pride Night game set for Thursday because several of the club's players refused to wear the scheduled Pride Night jerseys.
The "Revs" were poised to wear jerseys with rainbow-patterned sleeves.
"To be clear; this action by the players is completely inconsistent with our vision as the Most Welcoming Place in York," the club noted in its statement.
