Tampa Bay Rays show intersection of sports and intolerance

Sports should be a haven for tolerance and acceptance. It is something that Major League Baseball attempts to portray, and typically, is one of the few things that the league actually gets right. That makes the decision of five Tampa Bay Rays players to refuse to wear the Pride logo on their uniforms this past weekend all the more galling.

Full disclosure – I have a trans kid. They played baseball early on in their childhood, and although it has been a couple of years, still enjoy the game. Now that the pandemic is at least somewhat contained, they were looking to get back on the diamond this summer.

Tampa Bay Rays dropped ball with Pride logo

Those five players – pitchers Jason Adam, Jalen Beeks, Brooks Raley, Jeffrey Springs, and Ryan Thompson – all refused to wear the jerseys and hats for Pride Night. Their excuse was to hide behind their religion, claiming their beliefs would not allow them to participate in such a celebration. Naturally, they also claimed that they are accepting of “everyone,” because that is the stock answer whenever anyone questions such a stance.

Those players also stood by the old fallback for their stance, claiming that being a member of the LGBTQIA+ community is a choice. Calling homosexuality a choice is a horrendous perspective. Because, you know, every kid that happens to fall under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella wants to be put through the mental anguish and turmoil that they face when they identify as such.

At the same time, no one should be surprised that this is happening with a Florida team. After all, this is the state that passed the “Don’t say gay” bill and vetoed funds for the Rays because of their Twitter posts against gun violence.

And, naturally, those players are doubling down. Injured Rays pitcher and apparent bigot Nick Anderson posted a tweet that just dug the hole further, claiming that they “can have different beliefs and not look down on anyone.” Yet, that is literally what they are doing, causing the tolerance paradox where they claim that they do not tolerate intolerance while being intolerant.

This display of hatred and intolerance also comes at a really bad time. Josh Donaldson made the idiotic move to call Tim Anderson “Jackie” in reference to Jackie Robinson, a conversation that had racial overtones and brought intolerance in baseball back into the spotlight. Even if Donaldson felt that he was joking with Anderson, he was the only one laughing.

These players cannot even hide behind the excuse that they were joking. Their intolerance and hatred are right there in the open as they could not be bothered to participate in a weekend that might help someone accept who they are. But they will keep hiding behind the crucifix and claim that they “love everyone.” You know, as long as they don’t think, look, or have a different sexual orientation than they do.

Prejudice and intolerance are, unfortunately, still everywhere in sports. Those Tampa Bay Rays pitchers just highlighted it once again.