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Gay colleague says baseball players’ decision to not wear LGBTQ logos on uniform says ‘LGBTQ people are not welcome here’

June 9, 2022 | | Print Article

A Minor League Baseball player is mighty upset that five players on the Tampa Bay Rays refused to be bullied into wearing LGBT patches that violate their religious beliefs.

According to openly gay MiLB player Bryan Ruby, the five’s decision to not walk in perfect lockstep with every major institution and government agency in America just provides further proof of how marginalized the LGBT community allegedly is.

“It’s a reminder that even on the one night we get to be proud of ourselves at the ballpark, we are still second-class citizens. It’s as simple as that,” Ruby said in an interview with USA Today.

“A lot of guys just don’t get that they’ve always had, and will continue to have, gay teammates. Such antiquated language and behavior actively hurts the team. It’s hard enough to be gay in baseball.”

Indeed, it must be extremely difficult being gay in an industry that’s been bending over backward to cater to the LGBT community:

“When your teammates go out of their way to indicate they don’t accept you, it can be absolutely crushing, and obviously pretty damn hard to suit up and play well. What does it say to all the young minor leaguers dreaming of one day getting a shot in the big leagues? That once you get there, you can live your dream but only at the cost of hiding your authentic self from the world?” Ruby continued.

“It’s both sad and infuriating to know most other guys like me are relegated to walking on eggshells in the shadows of a culture still eerily reminiscent of the ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ world we supposedly moved on from over a decade ago.”

Speaking of walking on eggshells and not being accepted, the five players who opted to not be bullied into wearing LGBT patches — Jason Adam, Jalen Beeks, Brooks Raley, Jeffrey Springs and Ryan Thompson — have been facing intense criticism and backlash for daring to ask that their Christian beliefs be respected.

Over on ESPN, on Monday commentator Sarah Spain referred to their desire to be left alone as “religious exemption BS” and brazenly called them “bigots.”

“That religious exemption BS is used in sports and otherwise also allows for people to be denied health care, jobs, apartments, children, prescriptions, all sorts of rights,” she said.

“We have to stop tiptoeing around it because we’re trying to protect people who are trying to be bigoted from asking for them to be exempt from it, when the very people that they are bigoted against are suffering the consequences you say trying to be bigoted,” she claimed.

It’s not clear what “health care, jobs, apartments, children, prescriptions,” etc. were lost by five Christian players simply not wearing LGBT patches.

Listen:

Ruby also doesn’t seem to be very accepting of the five players’ religious beliefs.

“It always baffles me when guys use Jesus as their excuse to discriminate. This isn’t about religion. This is about being a good teammate. When guys go out of their way to make a point of opposing Pride Night, they’re sending a clear message that people like me just aren’t welcome in baseball,” he told USA Today.

Critics say he’s engaging in deep hypocrisy and projection because in reality, he and his supporters are the ones perpetrating bigotry and discrimination.

The best take appears to come from Nick Anderson, a black former MLB player who noted in a tweet that true tolerance means acknowledging “that different beliefs exist” — which, it appears, is something Ruby refuses to do.

Vivek Saxena
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