The recent LGBTQ night hosted by the Chicago Cubs, “Out At Wrigley,” reportedly had “more energy” behind it than ever before.
Great! Right?
Well… no. The reason for the increased enthusiasm had less to do with supporting the MLB franchise for its commitment to being a strong ally and more with the team’s new player, Daniel Murphy.
Murphy has been vocal in the past about his strong opposition to the “gay lifestyle”, and many Out At Wrigley attendees greeted him with boos every time he stood at the plate.
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Laura Ricketts, who co-owns the team with her family and also happens to be the first out owner of an MLB franchise, addressed the acquisition, which took place just days before the LGBTQ event, in a series of tweets.
She wrote:
“Since several people have asked…yes, I was consulted prior to the Daniel Murphy trade. There were several thoughtful conversations among Cubs executives, my brothers and me, as well as with Billy Bean, MLB’s Ambassador for Inclusion and the subject of Daniel’s 2015 comments. I know Billy and have immense respect for him and his work with the league. Billy, who has since developed a friendship with Daniel, was very positive and encouraging. After these considered and thoughtful conversations, which took place precisely because of the Cubs’ sensitivities on the matter, I was on board with the trade.”
Bill Gubrud, the organizer of Out At Wrigley, shared his thoughts about the discordance of the event with Outsports, saying he will “always root for the Cubs,” but not “for him.”
Laura and Tom Ricketts visited the LGBTQ fan section the night of the game and answered questions about why they signed Murphy.
She shared this photo from the event, writing “Enjoyed another great “Out at Wrigley” in the bleachers yesterday! Nice job (again) Bill and crew! Fun event and got the W!”:
Enjoyed another great “Out at Wrigley” in the bleachers yesterday! Nice job (again) Bill and crew! Fun event and got the W! pic.twitter.com/r7EJTZOuqV
— Laura Ricketts (@LMRicketts) August 27, 2018
gjg64
From what I’ve heard, Tom Ricketts is somewhat anti-gay.
Seattle.Duck
I’m not much of a sports fan, but as with any job, sometimes you gotta take the good with the bad. If he’s a good player – and I don’t know if he is it isn’t – the homophobia may just be one part of him that fans won’t like. But it shouldn’t affect his right to play for the team.
WillParkinson
If he was outspoken against black people or Jewish people or whatever, we wouldn’t even be discussing this.
DarkZephyr
Agreed, Will. Its amazing how even GAY people expect gays to tolerate more bullsh** than other groups have ever been willing to do. No Seattle.Duck we WILL stand up for ourselves and we WILL exercise our right to free speech.
ChrisGMN
This is a ridiculous article. Fellow gays, please stop trying to be the thought police. This man can believe whatever he wants. As long as he takes no action to try to impede your rights, he has no impact on your life, and booing him and trying to cause controversy around him only makes US look bad. Let him live his life. We all know the anti-gay ones usually end up coming out anyway.
WillParkinson
Yes, keep quiet like good little gays. Sorry, that won’t work anymore.
DarkZephyr
He “boos” our lifestyle so we can boo him. You do not ask of him the same thing you ask of us. Ridiculous.
gayhope1990
Shut up breeder.
EricinMD
How does booing a homophobic moron “make us look bad?” Yes he has a right to be a homophobe and a jackass and we have a right to criticize his 1964 views on gay people. Public figures who hate and criticize black people, women or handicapped people don’t get a pass and now neither do those who attack us. As long as he is öut” with his hatred of LGBTQ people we will not let him go scott free.
boymikefl
Would you support a guy on your work team who you knew had mysogynistic thoughts about you and all women?
DuMaurier
“Thoughts”? I’d be worried about “actions”, and that kind of goes to part of this story that isn’t even being discussed, for some reason. If you distill Murphy’s (incredibly awkwardly worded) comments, the upshot is he belongs to a church that condemns homosexuality but he supports inclusion in the sport. When asked about the issue a few years ago, he probably should’ve stressed the latter more and said he wouldn’t discuss his (already well known, which I’m pretty sure is why he was asked about it) religious views, especially since that’s the position he took after the story blew up.
It does make a difference that his views are religion-based, like it or not. A pro sports team isn’t an ‘ordinary’ job situation, but even if a boss ‘knows’ someone (based on his church affiliation and attendance) almost certainly has ‘thoughts’ like Murphy’s, he can’t do anything about it or take any employment decisions based on that–absent actions that violate a neutral job standard. Again, he should’ve evaded going into his religious views when discussing Bean, but they would exist whether he did or didn’t.
Brian
I’m tired of the idea that elite gay men get to decide who is or isn’t an ally. Billy Bean is his friend, so the issue is settled? No, that’s such crap rationale. I’m not going to automatically listen to everything that the rich and famous say. They need to hire a better communications director – someone more thoughtful.
davidjohng
I notice this Daniel Murphy uses the term “lifestyle” a lot to rationalize his homophobic bigotry. It seems to imply being gay is a choice and a “lifestyle”. It’s like they need to see being gay as a choice and not innate in order to hold onto their homophobic beliefs.
Donston
Well, who you have sex with and relationships with is a choice of sorts, no matter where you fit on the spectrum. But you can’t help where your desires, romantic instincts and connections, sexual fulfillment, emotional comfort, etc. lie.
If it’s about business and winning games then that’s what it’s about. But please don’t pretend you are so incredibly pro-lgbtq, pro-gay or whatever and then look to trade for someone who has made unabashed anti-gay statements and has stood by them. If you’re not willing to make sacrifices and have convictions then you’re not truly about that life. the problem here is convenient moralism, phoniness and hypocrisy.
jorgecruz
The Cubs and Laura Ricketts care more about money than they do people. A couple years ago they traded for the pitcher Chapman that had been suspended 30 games for beating and choking his wife. They had their justifications back then too.
Jagcr1
It’s a businessman. The team needs to win. And it the world series brought happiness to millions of Cubs fans. If Cubs didn’t sign him, someone else would. Just move on. Support other cub players and forget Murphy. I don’t like his comments, but it’s not debilitating. He is not harming us or hurting our cause. My family members do not agree with my lifestyle. So what? I live with it. They don’t hate me
Virpilosus
Gay LIFESTYLE? Just WTF is that, anyway??? Sheesh.
Jagcr1
It’s our partner choice. He is like my parents. They don’t agree. But they don’t hate me or want to cause me harm or discrimination.
dwes09
Agree with what!?
You can’t “disagree” with who somebody is. That is called hating them. Being gay is not an opinion or choice, like religion or politics, it is intrinsic. You can no more disagree with somebody being gay than with them being a breeder, for God’s sake!
Jagcr1
Read carefully. My parents want me to live a traditional life. Have a wife. Biological grandkids. They are upset. But they let me live my life. It’s not hatred. And I still meet with them regularly. They try to understand. And it’s a long process.
I am not disowned or discriminated against. So there is a difference.
IWantAFullBeard
Who even watches baseball anymore? Especially the cubs?
RobtheElder
It’s Daniel Murphy that should be reeducated. When he was hired, he should have been told that his job would end with the first complaint about his homophobia. That should be a condition built into all the Cubs contracts… and it should be followed. There may be gay players on the Cubs team right now that haven’t attacked Daniel Murphy in the locker room. Perhaps they stifle themselves to stay on everyone’s good side. Whatever Daniel Murphy’s problem is, it should remain his problem, or he should be pounding pavement… RobtheElder
Jagcr1
Good luck with that hateful thought. How are you any different than people who attacked Colin Kaepernick.
We can’t attack hate with more hate. Education is the key. If we can show we are respectful and loving, people will turn around. Otherwise we are no different than Trump supporters
dwes09
People who attack Kaepernick attack his political OPINION. And they are, in fact ignorant of the very issues that Kaepernick chooses to highlight, saying stupid things about him “disrespecting our troops” and the like.
Homophobia /voicing anti-gay sentiment is not a political opinion. It is denying the humanity of a significant minority of people. If you cannot discern the difference there, I pity you.
Refusing to be seen as less than fully human is not the way to achieve full enfranchisement, and insisting on one’s complete humanity does not make us like Trump or his supporters, as they are the ones that deny the humanity of others based on their ignorance and warped imaginations.
dwes09
Damn, having trouble posting, so cut and pasted the response and lost some words there.
Refusing to be seen as less than fully human is not attacking hate with hate, and is the way to full enfranchisement. Insisting on one’s complete humanity does not make us like Trump or his supporters, as they are the ones that deny the humanity of others based on their ignorance and warped imaginations.
Jagcr1
Read carefully. My parents want me to live a traditional life. Have a wife. Biological grandkids. They are upset. But they let me live my life. It’s not hatred. And I still meet with them regularly. They try to understand. And it’s a long process.
I am not disowned or discriminated against. So there is a difference.
Jagcr1
Sorry, the earlier response is for something else.
I agree with most of what you say. I just disagree about the comment about beating him up in the locker room. Or attacking him physically. He has not done anything that warrants such a behavior from us. We should be careful about how we project our dissatisfaction. You beat up someone who hasn’t really done anything, that’s hate
Catholicslutbox
um
Donston
I really don’t care about Murphy’s comments. I’m not the thought police. My issue is with the Cubs associates. You can’t walk around claiming to be super proud of being gay, be so pro “queer”, rocking rainbows flags all the time, etc. and then okay a trade for someone who, as a very grown, sober person, made very pointed anti-gay statements to the press. Either you have convictions or you don’t. If it’s simply about wins then just say so. Spare me the empty prattle.
And where are the “allies” at now? This is why I don’t completely buy into this ally and community nonsense. Most people are in it for themselves.
rray63
We worry so much about people like this baseball player, it’s pathetic. The apathy we show towards each other is far worse than what they project. I’d be willing to make a small wager that the man is probably gay himself. “He doth protest too much”. In the meantime, we have actual crimes committed against gay people and no one even bothers to worry about those. No, an individual that has been screwed by the corrupt system isn’t worthy of our thoughts, questions, and help. However, a baseball player, by virtue of being a baseball player is worthy of all these comments. We have a ton of gay groups, as well as the ACLU, the NAACP, etc. that are supposed to help people in our community in need and if you are lucky you will get a form letter/email telling you to buzz off, you don’t fit their narrative. So tell me, with your incredible intelligence, which is worse?
Donston
I somewhat understand where you’re coming from. But you completely change the topic, choose not to attack homophobia at all and instead choose to blindly attack gays? That type of mentality is part of the problem not the solution. Also, the issue most people are having is not with Murphy but with the Cub’s hypocrisy, which actually connects to the issues you’re bringing up.
There’s not a single openly gay/homosexual/same-sex leaning/in a same-sex relationship player in all the MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, professional tennis, highest levels of soccer, etc. and yet the one openly gay owner in the MLB, who constantly hypes “pride” and lgbtq rights and humanitarianism, embraces trading for a player who made very pointed anti-gay comments. It’s bad optics for the “movement”. It’s disappointing stuff that highlights the phoniness of coporate America, the fake pride many have and how little progression has been made on many fronts.
Lacuevaman
too bad. he sure is cute
Xzamilloh
These are corporations, businesses, entities for making money. There is no moral good when it comes to making money, only what sells and how many groups you can sell it to. Daniel Murphy can make them money, so the Cubs see the green and will put out some wishy washy generic tripe that answers nothing.
I really don’t care one way or the other.