▼ Key Takeaways
- Pride is the oldest sin on record – it was the sin that caused Lucifer to be thrown out of heaven.
- The month of June became Pride Month in 1999 with a declaration by President Clinton.
- Major League Baseball (MLB) is one of the most avid supporters of the LGBTQ+ agenda in all of professional sports.
- MLB partners with GLAAD – LGBTQ+ advocacy – and encourages all MLB teams to host a Pride Night in June to honor and support the LGBTQ+ community.
- The Texas Rangers are the only MLB team that does not sponsor a Pride Night.
- Three players from the San Francisco Giants protested Pride Night by writing a Genesis 9 scripture reference on their Pride Night caps; one player refused to wear the rainbow cap.
- California State Senator Scott Wiener criticized the players for not supporting the LGBTQ+ event, and MLB reportedly reprimanded the players and threatened further disciplinary action.
- Concerns about discrimination against Christians who disagree with LGBTQ+ ideology have been expressed by the DOJ, state attorneys general, and lawmakers.
- Faith and Family Nights—an alternative to Pride Night—are gaining popularity and are being hosted by many MLB teams this year.
- Standing for truth—and speaking God’s truth in love—takes courage and is very much needed today.
Pride was the downfall of Lucifer in heaven – described as the Morning Star in Isaiah 14:12.
Ever since his fall from heaven, he has promoted pride among every human on earth.
Pride is what causes us to want to be our own god.
It causes us to create our own morality and our own truth – both of which are the opposite of God’s morality and His Truth.
This is what modern society has come up with:
- All moral behavior is tolerated, accepted, and celebrated – except for biblical morality.
- All opinions and beliefs are equally valid and true – except for opinions and beliefs based on the Bible.
- Whatever God says is evil is good… whatever God says is wrong is right.
- Everything God says is good and to be praised is evil and must be hated.
This upside-down nature of morality and truth should not really surprise us.
Even God’s chosen people rejected His truth and worshipped false gods – idols of wood, stone, and metal.
They were guilty – just as all mankind has been guilty since the Garden of Eden – of turning God’s morality upside down.
The prophet Isaiah warned the Israelites in 700 BC:
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness… Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.” (Isaiah 5:20-21)
And Jesus even said to his disciples, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34)
Jesus wasn’t advocating physical violence or war here… He was prophesying the war of ideas that results when Truth confronts the devil’s lies.
The sword is an instrument that causes division…
Hebrews 4:12 says God’s Truth is sharper than a two-edged sword…
There is perhaps no greater modern example of the division that God’s truth causes than the celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride month every June.
It started as a one-day “Gay Pride Day” on the last Sunday in June, 1970.
President Clinton declared the entire month of June to be Gay and Lesbian Pride Month in 1999.
President Obama expanded it to LGBT Month in 2011… and President Biden expanded it further to LGBTQ+ Month in 2021.
Many major corporations and sports franchises now seek to gain the favor of the LGBTQ+ community by hosting special events to honor those who reject Truth in favor of their own reality.
Here are 5 realities about this cultural shift:
1. Major League Baseball (MLB) is Pride Month’s most enthusiastic supporter in all of professional sports.
GLADD — LGBTQ+ Advocacy – is a major media monitoring organization that promotes public acceptance of all non-traditional and non-binary sexual orientations and lifestyles.
Major League Baseball partners with GLADD.
Along with GLADD, MLB advocates for fair and inclusive acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community in both sports and entertainment.
Major League Baseball teams are encouraged to host an annual “Pride Night” game during the month of June.
MLB headquarters in New York City provides special baseball caps to each team to wear on their Pride Night.
The cap has the LGBTQ+ rainbow flag emblem on the front.
Every team but one – the Texas Rangers – schedules an annual Pride Night during June.
MLB also participates in Spirit Day every October – which supports LGBTQ+ students and youth.
2. The players who took a stand for Christ and the attacks they endured.
The Stand:
Three San Francisco Giants players wrote a Bible reference from Genesis 9 next to the rainbow emblem on their caps which they wore on their Pride Night.
Genesis 9 gives the biblical account in which God gave Noah the rainbow as a sign of His promise to Noah and his descendants to never again destroy the earth with a flood.
Pitcher Landen Roupp was asked about the “Gen 9:12-16” quotation on his Pride Night cap.
He said the passage speaks about “God’s covenant” and “a promise that He makes to us” that demonstrates “His faithfulness and His mercy.”
“God has blessed me in so many ways,” Roupp added. “I don’t think I’d be here right now if it wasn’t for Him.”
He expressed gratitude to God for putting him in “this situation and giving him the opportunity to “share His Kingdom.”[1]
One other Giants player – relief pitcher Sam Hentges – silently protested Pride Night by refusing to wear the rainbow cap altogether.[2]
The Attacks:
Democratic California state Senator Scott Wiener accused the Giants players of defacing their Pride caps.
“On San Francisco Giants Pride Night — also the tenth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub massacre — several players defaced their Pride caps with a biblical passage that has been hijacked by homophobes to ‘take back’ the rainbow from LGBTQ people,” Wiener said.[3]
Scott Wiener is openly gay and has represented the San Francisco area in the California State Senate since 2016.
He is also running for Congress – to replace the seat in the House of Representatives being vacated by the retiring Nancy Pelosi.
The MLB subsequently issued verbal warnings to the players:
“The writing on the cap violates our rules and consistent with normal practice we have warned the players about future violations,” MLB Chief Communications Officer Pat Courtney said in a statement provided to Outsports.[4]
Wiener accused the Giants players of homophobia and condemned the MLB for not punishing them more harshly.
Meanwhile, the Giants’ team management apologized for the actions of their players:
“The San Francisco Giants are proud to support Pride Night and the LGBTQ+ community. Baseball should be a place where everyone feels welcome, respected, and valued.”[5]
The apology acknowledged that “individuals may make personal choices about participating in team activations,” but that “the choices by individual players have caused pain and anger to many in the LGBTQ+ community.”
“Those choices do not change our organization’s commitment to inclusion, belonging, and creating a welcoming environment for all.”[6]
Never mind the pain and anger of the Christian players who endure constant pressure from the LGBTQ+ community and its supporters to celebrate sin.
It doesn’t matter when Christians are offended – only when those who hate Christianity are offended.
The Pushback:
- Giants Manager Tony Vitello was asked if he thought it was “OK” for his players to include Bible verses on their pride night caps.Vitello responded: “The individuals have the freedom to do what they … think is best.”[7]
- Pitcher Landen Roupp reiterated that “the rainbow is a symbol of God’s covenant … to us.” He stressed that “there’s no hate at all,” stating that the scripture passage reflects “what I stand for and what I stand in.”He also expressed gratitude that “we live in a country where … we have the freedom to believe what we want.”
- Josh Hawley (R- MO) asked MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred to address concerns that the pride cap crackdown could signal an “apparent pattern of discriminating against Christians while promoting left-wing ideologies.”[8]
- The DOJ referred the MLB crackdown to the EEOC for investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division says it wants EEOC to look into whether MLB infringed on the religious rights of its players.[9]
- The office of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is investigating alleged religious discrimination by the MLB, and Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway also warned of a potential investigation, noting that her state “will not tolerate any threat to punish a player for exercising his sincerely held religious or moral beliefs.”[10]
- In response to reports that MLB has threatened players with consequences for including Bible verses on their caps in the future, actor and comedian Rob Schneider offered to pay any fines they incur.
- A Pennsylvania independent professional league team – the York Revolution – opted to forfeit a scheduled pride night game against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs after the players refused to wear a rainbow-themed uniform.[11]
3. The MLB teams that are pushing the radical LGBTQ+ agenda the most.
Every Major League Baseball team – with one exception – has already hosted or will host a Pride Night before the end of June.
The one team that has never hosted a Pride Night…
The Texas Rangers.
Here are the teams that promote the LGBTQ+ agenda the most:
San Francisco Giants:
- The most active LGBTQ+ franchise
- The first team to wear pride colors on their uniforms
- Regularly host on-field vow renewals for same-sex couples.
Los Angeles Dodgers:
- Known for organizing extensive LGBTQ+ events
- They release rainbow-themed jerseys and merchandise.
Cleveland Guardians:
- They push LGBTQ+ visibility via unique in-stadium entertainment
- They invite drag queens to throw out the first pitch.
Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs:
- They sponsor community outreach campaigns
- Schedule large-scale pre-game activities
- Offer Pride cap and Pride jersey giveaways.
4. The moral alternative – Faith Night – is growing.[12]
Instead of Pride night, the Texas Rangers hosted a Faith and Family Night in June this year.
It featured personal testimonies of Rangers players sharing how their faith impacts their lives both on and off the field.
The Pittsburgh Pirates hosted a Faith Night in May which included a performance from Christian musician Chris Jamison, and testimonies of faith from Pirates players.
Other teams hosting Faith and Family Nights earlier this year:
- San Diego Padres
- Houston Astros
- Miami Marlins
The Detroit Tigers held an event called “Home Plate” in which current and former players shared about their careers and how their faith in Christ was the key to their success.
Here are other faith-based events scheduled by Major League teams for this or later during the 2026 season:
- Milwaukee Brewers – Ballpark Day of Faith
- Louis Cardinals – Christian Day at the Ballpark (June 27)
- Baltimore Orioles – Christian Faith Night (July 9)
- Seattle Mariners – Faith and Family Day (Aug.1)
- Tampa Bay Rays – Christian Faith Day (Aug. 2)
- Kansas City Royals – Faith and Family Night featuring Christian musician TobyMac (Aug. 21)
- Arizona Diamondbacks – Faith and Family Night featuring Christian singer Matthew West (Aug. 21)
- Cleveland Guardians – Faith Day (Aug.29). A portion of ticket sale proceeds will go toward supporting the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Cleveland.
5. Courageously standing for truth.
It’s one thing to write a Bible reference on a baseball cap, or put a Christian bumper sticker on your car, or post a Christian meme on social media.
It’s quite another thing to speak truth when it is so often interpreted as hate speech.
Landen Roupp – the Giants pitcher who was most often interviewed and criticized for writing “Gen 9:12-16” next to the Pride rainbow on his cap – spoke honestly, truthfully, and with no hatred in his voice or in his heart for the LGBTQ+ community.
We are commanded to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:14-15).
The context of this commandment is very appropriate.
The apostle Paul is talking about those who have been “tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in evil scheming…” (Ephesians 4:14)
To these people, we are to speak Truth… but we are to do so in love…
Not in disdain, not in hate, not with a sense of moral superiority.
We are all sinners… we are all rebels against God… saved by grace alone through Christ alone by faith alone.
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Ryan Thompson supported the Giants players who wrote on their caps… and he spoke out about it.
He explained in an interview that the rainbow means something special to Christians.
He said the rainbow “means that no matter how bad we possibly could be, no matter how much we reject God, that He will never again flood the earth.”
“That’s really cool. That’s really special. And we do a lot of stuff, and we’re all sinful. We all do a lot of stuff that may be worthy of a flooding, but God will never flood us, and because of that promise, and His promises are unconditional.”[13]
What do think? Email me at [email protected].
Action:
- Pray for Christian athletes in all sports, not just baseball. Pray that they will be bold in sharing their faith with their fellow team members, and with the public whenever they are given an opportunity to do so.
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FAQs:
Q: When did Pride Month become a national observance?
A. It began as a one-day Gay Pride Day in 1970. President Clinton declared June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month in 1999. It was later expanded to LGBT (Obama, 2011) and LGBTQ+ (Biden, 2021). MLB partners with GLADD and encourages Pride Night events.
Q: How many Major League Baseball teams host an annual Pride Night during the month of June?
A. All of the teams have a Pride Night except the Texas Rangers.
Q: What was the main controversy involving Major League Baseball and Pride Night in 2026?
A. Three San Francisco Giants players protested during Pride Night by writing a Genesis 9 Bible reference (“Gen 9:12-16”) on their rainbow-themed caps, and one player refused to wear the cap altogether.
Q: What personal attacks did these players experience as a result of their expressions of biblical faith?
A. MLB issued warnings to the players for violating rules… and California Senator Scott Wiener and others criticized them for “defacing” the caps and promoting homophobia.
Q: Why did the players write the Genesis 9 Bible reference on their caps?
A. The Genesis 9 passage gives the symbolic meaning of the rainbow: it represents God’s promise to Noah and all mankind that God will never again destroy the earth with a flood.
Q: How did the Giants management react to the incident?
A. Giants manager Tony Vitello defended the players’ right to individual freedom of expression, but the organization issued an apology, stating the players’ choices caused “pain and anger” to the LGBTQ+ community.
Q: What pushback has there been against MLB’s actions?
A. Senators Josh Hawley and others raised concerns about anti-Christian discrimination; The DOJ referred the matter to the EEOC for investigation into religious rights; Florida and Missouri Attorneys General are investigating or warning against religious discrimination.
Q: What alternative events are MLB teams hosting?
A. Many teams are hosting Faith and Family Nights or Christian-themed events with player testimonies, Christian musicians and messages about faith in Christ.
About Craig Huey:
Craig Huey is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and publisher of The Huey Alert and Direct Marketing Update. He is also the author of The Great Deception: 10 Shocking Dangers and the Blueprint for Rescuing the American Dream, exposing the lies of socialism and defending America’s founding principles. Craig appears on national media such as FOX, FOX Business, Newsmax and more. He also co-hosts The Huey Alert Podcast with his wife Shelly and helps business leaders, Christians, conservatives, libertarians, young people and more understand the intersection of faith, politics, and freedom.
[1] Ryan Foley, https://www.christianpost.com/news/san-francisco-giants-player-puts-bible-verse-on-pride-night-hat.html
[2] Ibid.
[3] Jon Brown, https://www.christianpost.com/news/scott-wiener-says-mlb-players-defaced-their-lgbt-pride-caps.html
[4] Ryan Foley, https://www.christianpost.com/news/mlb-warns-giants-players-for-bible-verses-on-pride-night-hats.html
[5] John Shea, https://sfstandard.com/2026/06/14/sf-giants-pride-night-pain-anger-social-media/
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ryan Foley, op. cit.
[8] Ian M. Giatti, https://www.christianpost.com/news/3-developments-linked-to-baseball-pride-controversy.html?page=3
[9] Ibid., page=2
[10] https://x.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/2066923867189260382
[11] Ibid., page=4
[12] Ryan Foley, https://www.christianpost.com/news/most-mlb-teams-plug-pride-month-half-plan-to-host-faith-nights.html
[13] Jon Brown, op. cit.