The Texas Rangers are the only team in Major League Baseball without a Pride Night or any other similar LGBTQ promotional game, and people are not happy about it.
This week, Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic spoke to past and present employees of the Texas Rangers organization to get an idea of how they feel about the team’s decision not to host a Pride Night. And it’s safe to say they do not support the decision.
One former longtime Texas Rangers employee called a Pride Night celebration a “bare minimum thing,” and pointed out that there are plenty of easy positives for hosting a Pride Night, but the Rangers are actively choosing not to.
“(The silence) is deafening,” the longtime employee told The Athletic. “The fact of the matter is it’s a free marketing opportunity, it doesn’t cost them anything personally and they can boost revenue by looking inclusive. The fact that there hasn’t been one [for Texas], is the biggest ‘actions speak louder than words’ I’ve ever seen.”
One current Rangers employee, who is gay, blamed team owner Ray Davis for the team’s refusal to host a LGBTQ promotional game.
“When you have someone so opposed at the top, it creates this spillover effect that, even though most of the organization I think wants it to happen, or at least isn’t vehemently opposed to it, it’s just this dark cloud that’s signifying it’s OK to treat this group of people like [crap],” the employee said.
“It’s the lowest freaking bar,” said another former longtime employee. “If someone has a problem with it, they have 80 other home games. Have a section and a special ticket. Just stop making people feel like they aren’t welcome.”
The current and former employees aren’t the only ones upset with the team – plenty of people took to social media to express their anger with the team’s decision not to celebrate the LGBTQ community.
The amount of joy I got to see Latino representation this Saturday at the Rangers game was so uplifting.
I'm really sad LBGTQIA+ fans won't get that same feeling. https://t.co/Pcf7OQqf6W
— Ryan Ritter (Gamin' 4 Aven) (@ndtex) June 19, 2023
Spread it like wildfire. It's the only way to make Ray Davis ever change his mind. https://t.co/wTWEJQUKng
— Kenny Bybee (@KennyBybee) June 19, 2023
Lotta quotes from employees ashamed to work for the one franchise that has an issue celebrating inclusivity. https://t.co/JQ72Fiecuz
— Christopher Fittz (@apoplecticfittz) June 19, 2023
Nobody is shocked https://t.co/YmeOZBbVRX
— Cigmond (@Cg24091) June 19, 2023
and this is why i changed from being a rangers fan of 30+ years, to being a @Twins fan a few years ago. it just matters. https://t.co/J8hDxPDFt8
— -jonathan🐧 (@radjanspirit) June 19, 2023
Team scared of their fanbase https://t.co/Espajy3Lql
— The Tall Traveler (@TallTraveler1) June 19, 2023
It will certainly be interesting to see if the team changes its stance in the future.
