Blue Jays’ Bass sorry for anti-LGBTQ post as Kershaw backs Christian Faith Day
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass apologized on Tuesday for expressing support on social media for anti-LGBTQ+ boycotts of Target and Bud Light.
Bass shared a post on his Instagram stories on Monday urging others to spurn the companies over support they showed for the LGBTQ+ community. Both companies are dealing with fallout from those campaigns, which have included hostile and homophobic criticisms and calls from LGBTQ+ activists not to cave to anti-LGBTQ+ groups.
Bass made a brief statement on the field but did not take questions before the Blue Jays hosted Milwaukee on Tuesday.
“I recognize yesterday I made a post that was hurtful to the Pride community, which includes friends of mine and close family members of mine,” Bass said. “I am truly sorry for that.”
Bass said he had addressed teammates about the controversial post and apologized to them for sharing it.
“As of right now, I am using the Blue Jays’ resources to better educate myself to make better decisions moving forward,” Bass said. “The ballpark is for everybody. We include all fans at the ballpark. We want to welcome everybody. That’s all I have to say.”
Blue Jays manager John Schneider Schneider said Bass’s post “doesn’t represent our overall feelings as an organization.”
Pride Nights have prompted division across sports in recent years. On Monday, Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw told The Los Angeles Times that he disagreed with his team’s recent decision to welcome a satirical LGBTQ+ group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at the team’s annual Pride Night. Last season, several players with the Tampa Bay Rays cited their Christian faith in refusing to wear Pride jerseys.
Kershaw said that the Dodgers’ decision to honor the group after the club rescinded the original invitation prompted him to approach the Dodgers about expediting the announcement that the team was bringing back Christian Faith and Family Day later this season.
“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 said. “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].”
Kershaw announced via Twitter last Friday that Christian Faith and Family Day will be held July 30 when the Dodgers face the Cincinnati Reds. The last time the Dodgers held it was 2019.
Kershaw, who has been with the organization since being drafted in
2006, said his issues were with the Sisters and not the LGBTQ+ community. He also added the he will not boycott Pride Night on 16 June when the Dodgers host the San Francisco Giants.
“This has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community or Pride or anything like that,” said Kershaw, who held a players-only meeting in the clubhouse before Monday’s game. “This is simply a group that was making fun of a religion, that I don’t agree with.”
The Dodgers rescinded their original invitation to the Sisters on 17 May after receiving backlash from some conservative Roman Catholics and politicians, including US senator Marco Rubio, who accused the group of mocking nuns and the Christian faith.
However, the Dodgers’ decision sparked its own backlash from LGBTQ+ groups around the country, with some deciding to pull out of Pride Night. The Dodgers reversed their decision five days later and welcomed them back.
The Sisters, a group of mainly men who dress as nuns, is a charity, protest and performance group founded in 1979 in San Francisco. Its Los Angeles chapter will receive the Community Hero Award.
The group denies it is anti-Catholic. On its website, the group says it uses “humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency and guilt that chain the human spirit.”
During the recent NHL regular season, seven players opted out of wearing rainbow-colored jerseys on their teams’ Pride nights. The Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild did not wear rainbow warmup jerseys after doing so in previous seasons.