After 67 years as a Giants fan, this straight man is walking away from the team over Pride Night
Barry has cheered for the SF Giants for over 6 decades, through World Series and bad seasons. The Pride Night fiasco was the end for him.
Mark
This is part of Outsports’ series of “Dear Giants” letters written by San Francisco Giants fans and sent to the team after their mishandling of this season’s Pride Night, with Bible verses written on Pride caps by three players intending to send an anti-gay message during Pride Night.
Barry GH has cheered for the San Francisco Giants for the last 67 years.
Now after the team’s complete mishandling of their Pride Night following the anti-gay demonstration by several pitchers, the Giants have lost him, possibly forever.
Barry, who has attended about 15 Giants games per season for the last 10 years, was so appalled by the anti-gay demonstration of several Giants pitchers for Pride Night, he wrote a letter to the team.
He addressed his letter to Landen Roupp, the anti-gay Christian starting pitcher for the Giants’ Pride Night who led the charge with the Bible verse on his cap.
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He copied several people on his Dear Giants letter: Giants CEO Larry Baer, Giants President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey and San Francisco Chronicle sports columnist Ann Killion.
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Straight Giants fan attended 87 games in 2 seasons. Her goodbye letter should worry the team.
This straight retiree and SF Giants fan was at their Pride Night. She wrote 2 letters saying ‘good bye’ for ignoring gay fans’ concerns.
Dear Giants,
My name is Barry GH, and I am a 73-year-old lifetime SF Giants fan who has closely followed the local and national responses to the events that occurred during and after the June 12th Pride Night game at Oracle Park.
I attended that game with my wife, 13-year-old granddaughter and her friend. I have read every editorial, letters to the editor, written one of my own, and read of the interviews given by you, Sam Hentjes, Ryan Walker, and JT Brubaker.
I wanted to reach out directly to you as, for the first time in my 67+ years of bleeding Giants’ Orange & Black, I am considering turning my back on my beloved Giants.
Your actions, those of your teammates, and the pathetic response from Giants’ leadership have resulted in my disposing of my remaining 2026 tickets, and, at present, making the decision to no longer support the team.
In your interview immediately following the game you were asked about your decision to inscribe a passage from scripture, that specifically references a rainbow (i.e. Genesis 9:12-16), on your cap adjacent to the SF Pride Logo.
You said repeatedly in that interview that, “…there was no hate [intended],” and your teammate, Mr. Hentjes, repeated some version of there being, “no hate,” four times in his interview.
What I assume you understand is that your cap inscription specifically targeted the LGBTQIA+ community and their use of the rainbow as a symbol of Gay Pride. Your cap inscription was a message to the Gay community, that their beloved rainbow belonged to you as a Christian, and not to them.
That is actually what retired Dodger great Clayton Kershaw said when he first inscribed the very same verse on his cap a few years back, on the Dodger’s Pride Day.
How else could you, your teammates, or Mr. Kershaw explain having never inscribed scripture the other 364 days of the year, but solely on Pride Night? I ask, naively, couldn’t it be both? Given this, please understand that whether or not your “intention” was hateful, is irrelevant. The only thing that matters here is how the intended target of your actions perceived your message.
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This lifelong Giants fan sold all her remaining tickets. Then she sent the team this letter.
This SF Giants fan sent a letter to the team telling them she’s appalled by their response to their Pride debacle and selling her tickets.
From my reading of the responses from both the Gay community and its countless allies, the message you and your teammates delivered was clearly seen as deeply offensive and hateful. You and your teammates additional use of the long-standing anti-gay homophobic tropes referencing, “choice, lifestyle, and morality,” only furthers how your message is perceived.
When asked in your interview how you would respond to your detractors, you suggested they, “Read the Bible.”
As a secular Jewish Atheist the Bible is unfamiliar to me, but I took you up on your suggestion, and found the following passages from scripture;
- Mathew 5:2-11, “Blessed are those who are persecuted.”
- Mathew 7:1-5, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”
- Mathew 7:12, (The Golden Rule), “So in everything do unto others what you would have
them do to you.” - Mark 12:31, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
I could go on, but you get the idea. I even took a closer look at the verse you inscribed on your
cap and realized that you, and 2 of your teammates, appeared to have missed the point of that
passage entirely. In Genesis 9:12-16 the rainbow is seen as God’s promise (his covenant) to
protect humankind, it reads in part, “…every living creature.” Unless your Bible had an asterisk
attached to that passage, and an accompanying footnote that read, “Except Gay people,” the
passage appears to include the LGBTQIA+ community. I ask out of ignorance here, but, as a
Christian are you allowed to follow only the parts of Bible that confirm your values, or do you
have to accept it all? I have always assumed it was the latter.
As a mental health professional and retired Social Work Educator with just shy of 50 years’ experience in my field I have worked alongside and with countless members of the LGBTQIA+ community, as colleagues, students and clients.
I am, therefore, intimately aware of the perpetual and insidious challenges they face on a daily basis of both overt and more nuanced forms of discrimination, marginalization, and aggression.
I see from your bio that you grew up a straight white Christian male in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, attending both the Faith Christian School, and the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
I am assuming here when I guess that while growing up you did not experience daily aggressions, both subtle and overt, suggesting that you had chosen an immoral lifestyle, and, therefore, were not welcome in the community.
If you did have that experience, I sincerely apologize, but, if not, please understand that that is the experience of every LBGTQIA+ individual.
Barry GH
If you are a longtime San Francisco Giants fan and sent a “Dear Giants” letter to the team expressing thoughts about their Pride Night debacle, DM us on social media or email us at team@outsports.com
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