With MLB embroiled in Pride Night controversy, a pair of Jewish players speak up

Though all but one Major League Baseball team participates in Pride Month and several sell merchandise for the occasion, the league’s players have been relatively less supportive, with some saying that celebrating LGBTQ+ people conflicts with their religious beliefs.

Clayton Kershaw, for example, the Dodgers ace pitcher, criticized his team’s decision to honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — a charity founded in 1979 that riffs on Catholic nuns to draw attention to religious intolerance and affirm queer identity — at the team’s Pride Night on June 16. Two other players followed suit Tuesday, growing a controversy that began with the team’s decision to invite, disinvite and finally reinvite the Sisters to the event.

On Tuesday, two Jewish players stepped into this culture war whirlwind with a pair of public statements offering unqualified support for the LGBTQ+ community.

Responding to a tweet posted by baseball writer Bradford William Davis inviting MLB players to publicly support the Sisters, Rob Kaminsky, a reliever who last pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2020 and is now in the Seattle Mariners’ minor-league system, wrote, “I’m a MiLB [Minor League Baseball] player, but I fully support the LGBTQ community,” adding a thumbs-up emoji.


Robert Stock

Link to tweet