The Texas Rangers have a full promotional calendar for the rest of the 2023 season. They will host nights dedicated to Shark Week, Choctaw Casinos & Resorts and somebody named “Preston.”
But once again, there won’t be a Pride Night at Globe Life Field in Arlington. The Rangers remain the only MLB team out of 30 without an evening dedicated to celebrating its LGBTQ+ fans, and employees aren’t having it.
The Athletic recently spoke to roughly a dozen current or recent employees of the organization about the Rangers’ decision to abstain from promoting LGBTQ+ Pride. Many of the sources quoted were granted anonymity to protect their professional livelihoods.
They weren’t shy about voicing their displeasure.
“I grew up here, I’m a diehard Rangers fan,” said one current staffer. “When I started working here, it was a dream job. But it’s pretty sh*tty that it’s an organization over the last few years that has done or said things, or not done or said things, that not only do I not agree with or not reflect who I want to be as a person, but it’s bordering on being disgusting.”
“[The silence] is deafening,” added another.
The Los Angeles Dodgers threw the first-ever Pride celebration in pro sports nearly 25 years ago, as a makeup call for ejecting two women from the stadium for the crime of kissing on the Jumbotron. The team issued a public apology and donated 5,000 tickets to three LGBTQ+ groups in the area.
Shortly thereafter, the Chicago Cubs hosted their first ever Out at Wrigley event, a community-run LGBTQ+ day at the park hosted by a longtime fan. Nowadays, Pride Nights are ubiquitous across MLB, with many NBA and NHL teams hosting nights dedicated to LGBTQ+ fans as well.
Now, as we’ve covered in the past, Pride Nights can be seen as hollow gestures when they only serve as ticket promotions, and not part of broader efforts to promote LGBTQ+ inclusion. Multiple NHL teams deservedly came under fire last season for allowing players to skip out on certain gestures, such as wearing rainbow warmup jerseys.
We’ve seen recent conflicts in MLB, too. The Boston Red Sox, for example, called up a homophobic pitcher days before their Pride Night, and then proceeded to explain away his anti-gay Twitter history.
But make no mistake: Pride Nights can be powerful statements. Look no further than the Dodgers, who held steady with their celebration this year, despite a barrage of right-wing backlash over their decision to honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The event was a big success, and every player even wore a rainbow-logo hat.
Up until recently, the Houston Astros also didn’t host a Pride Night, though that changed in 2021. People within the Astros organization told The Athletic the event is now a driver of “both ticket sales and sponsor revenue.”
While it may be tempting to dismiss the Rangers’ Pride Night snub as an example of “Texas being Texas,” that just isn’t the case. First of all, Texas has the second-largest number of LGBTQ+ residents in the U.S., estimated at 1.7 million people. Secondly, other pro sports teams in the Dallas area are active when it comes to efforts supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
The Dallas Stars of the NHL and FC Dallas of the MLS now hold Pride Nights, and even the Dallas Cowboys sell Pride merchandise at their practice facility.
So what’s the Rangers’ excuse? The Athletic story points to ownership. The Rangers’ majority stakeholder is billionaire oil tycoon Ray Davis. “Almost everyone interviewed for this story believes the roadblock for celebrating the LGBTQ+ community is high up in the organization, high enough that even anonymously, people are nervous talking about it,” writes Brittany Ghiroli.
That doesn’t make Rangers employees, especially those who identify as LGBTQ+, feel any better.
“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 sh*t,” says a gay employee.
There is a grand irony to the Rangers’ aversion to Pride Night: the team’s part-owner and COO Neil Leibman is also chairman of MLB’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee. Apparently, he doesn’t even hold enough sway to change things.
MLB could exert pressure on the Rangers, considering they’re slated to host next season’s All-Star Game. But don’t count on it. Manfred, who’s actively discouraged teams from wearing rainbow paraphernalia this Pride season, probably isn’t going to push the issue.
With that in mind, the onus falls on the Rangers’ employees to speak out. They’re certainly making a lot of noise.
Scroll down for more response to the Rangers’ longstanding Pride Night snub…
All 29 other organizations should plan their Pride Night for when the Rangers come to town.
— Bingo Ben (@BingoBenPLO) June 20, 2023
Kangol2
Weren’t the Texas Rangers once partially owned by George W. Bush? Some things never change.
dario717
Yes, and he still frequents the ballpark.