Posted on 06/07/2022 2:53:18 PM PDT by American Number 181269513
After a handful of Tampa Bay Rays players refused to wear rainbow-clad uniforms for Pride Night on Saturday, the only openly-gay active player in professional baseball said "discrimination and hate has a voice in baseball and you saw it in Tampa."
"We have seen a lot of teams selling rainbow merchandise and doing Pride Nights, which is great, but they need to actually support their players," Bryan Ruby said of the situation in Tampa, which he called "sad and frustrating."
"We get one night at the ballpark to be ourselves all year, and it just was an indication that a lot of people still believe that we just don't belong there and that we are not welcome, and even on Pride Night, we're still second-class citizens," he said.
The Rays held their 16th annual Pride Night at Tropicana Field on Saturday.
All players were required to wear rainbow-colored logos on their Pride Night uniforms, including a rainbow "TB" on their caps and a rainbow sunburst on their right jersey sleeves, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
But a handful of players, including pitchers Jason Adam, Jalen Beeks, Brooks Raley, Jeffrey Springs, and Ryan Thompson, chose not to comply with the Pride Night attire, wearing their regular hats and peeling off the sunburst logo, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Adam claimed their decision came down to "religious beliefs" and not wanting to encourage the "behavior" of the LGBTQ+ community, the Times reported.
Ruby wondered why the stadium's compliance officer, whose job it is to ensure players are wearing their uniforms correctly, didn't take action.
"If a player flat-out refused to wear number 42 on Jackie Robinson day, I have no doubt they would be fined," he said, noting that none of the Rays players have faced any discipline for stripping their uniforms of rainbow logos.
Ruby recognized that a majority of the Rays players were in support of Pride Night, which shows some progress in a sport where he said it is still largely taboo to be gay.
Ruby, a 26-year-old who has been playing ball since he was six, publicly came out during his 2021 stint on the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, an Independent League team that was once an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.
He had already been out to his friends and family for five years, but he said it took him so long to come out in baseball because he was never able to actively point to someone in Major League Baseball and see someone like him.
"I was leading a double life," he told Insider. "I was a different person at home than I was on the field."
MLB has never had an openly gay active player in its 146-year history.
He admitted he was fearful of losing his job when he first came out, though he added that he now proudly dons rainbow laces in his cleats.
"Every day at work I'd lace up my cleats and put my ball cap on and be completely in the closet, and finally I just got tired of it. I didn't feel any shame anymore about who I was, and I was proud of who I was," he added.
Ruby has also co-founded Proud To Be In Baseball, which launched on National Coming Out Day in 2021, alongside Michael Holland and Sam Culwell — two gay baseball players that reached out to Ruby in the wake of his coming out.
The nonprofit's goal is to "advocate for the next generation of LGBTQ people in baseball, lead with love, and provide resources for baseball players."
"No one is really speaking up for LGBTQ people in baseball, and we started doing that," Ruby said, noting that there has already been much interest from players — and even a few Major League teams — about working together to promote inclusivity.
Ruby said he's taken time away from baseball to focus on the nonprofit and Pride month, but added he'll be back on the diamond again later this summer. Ruby said he hopes the charity will be obsolete soon and that there'll be enough support for LGTBQ players that they no longer need a voice advocating for them.
He said he hopes the situation in Tampa doesn't deter other teams from wearing rainbow logos.
He hopes teams will take a step further to "think more carefully about what they can actually do to support the gay baseball players that they have in their organizations that aren't comfortable enough yet to reveal who they are."
"Who you date has nothing to do with if you can hit a 95 mph fastball," Ruby said.
Refusing to wear a pride uniform is hate???? The left becomes a bigger cartoon every minute. They have spent ALL of their credibility and then some. A constant stream of lies and exaggerations. People are sick and tired of the steady flow of garbage. Enough is enough. Play your sick games behind closed doors, keep your trash mouth shut about it and JUST PLAY BALL!!!!!!!!!!!
“After a handful of Tampa Bay Rays players refused to wear rainbow-clad uniforms for Pride Night on Saturday, the only openly-gay active player in professional baseball said “discrimination and hate has a voice in baseball and you saw it in Tampa.””
Has this guy ever worn a MAGA hat? If someone doesn’t wear a hat and/or uniform that recognizes each and every cause in America does that make him a hateful voice?
It’s not like those dissenting ballplayers wore Gay Sucks hats or something.
As far as I can tell, the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes don't exist anymore.
As for the Tampy Bay players, I fully understand their position. Asking them to put the rainbow flag on their uniform is moving from tolerance to endorsement. So eff you LGBTQers. If you're proud, good for you. But not everyone has to share your pride.
The USA as of today - celebrate my perversion or your a bigot homophobe. Used to be live and let live. We all knew at the time they wouldn’t be happy having equal rights. They want special rights you don’t, and can’t, have. They want to be worshipped.
I never really understood the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah. It wasn’t their sin. It was the celebration and the expectation to participate in their sin. Took me 40+ years to understand that. People can be told but seeing is truly understanding.
Exactly!
Grow up Bryan.
I pay to watch a BASEBALL game or similar athletic event.
I don’t give a damn about your politics or who you have sexual relations with.
I am NOT going to be pushed into supporting YOUR lifestyle choices.
I WILL stop buying tickets.
If you’re twenty-six and playing in an independent league, you are never making it to MLB. Probably not even A-Ball.
In the democrats “diverse” New America there is no room for “OTHER-THOUGHT”
Neutrality is HATE...
If you don’t totally agree you are THE ENEMY
Yeah, here in Mexico they pride themselves that their soccer teams are FREE of Political expression and gender declaration. Keep these toxic expressions away so we can ALL enjoy SPORTS.
You know, I would have no problem with an “openly gay” baseball player IF IT WASN’T ALL ABOUT HIM BEING GAY and IT WASN’T SUCH AN OBVIOUSLY FASCIST MOVE. But apparently it’s no longer all right to just be okay with gaywads. Financial support is also required. And at this point I’m like, “Um.......no.”
-PJ
Because failure to submit to ritual humiliation is “hate”.
Homo libtards are very tolerant and inclusive ..... to everyone who agrees with them.
Try to keep in mind that “they” are already gearing up for blaming the next pandemic on gay men. Remember: They will use them, then discard them. Today gaywads are at the top of the food chain. Tomorrow it will be a different deal.
Just like it is now with “Coronavirus? What’s that?” - in a couple of years it’ll be “Pride Month....? Haha, what’s that?”
Your main goal should be survival for yourself and your loved ones, and preservation of those principles and habits that support a strong, free society.
It’s not the gays’ fault - it’s COMMUNISM. They just want for you to get REALLY, REALLY ANGRY about gaywads in govt and pro sports, etc - so you’ll be more than ready to lash out at them when the monkeypox scare gets under way.
Geat news! Evidently there's still a diversity of opinion, and not one Orwellian monotone lockstep point of few.
He’s not a major leaguer, or even a low-level prospect. He needn’t worry about MLB rules.
I’m tired of being lectured by those who are depraved and degenerate
No, he can handle a bat, too.
Since gays left their 'C' enclosure they seem to want the Christians back in one of their old ones. But I can't decide which: the Catacombs, or the Coliseum.
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