Giants Pride hat controversy: Tolerance does not apply to Christians

The San Francisco Giants held their annual Pride Night last week to honor the LGBTQ+ community.The celebration included 10 gay couples renewing their wedding vows and a drag queen standing along the first base line.Four Christian ballplayers on the Giants chose to make a statement about their faith.

While all the other players wore a “Pride” hat (a Giants hat with a rainbow patch attached), one pitcher, Sam Hentges, wore his regular Giants cap without the rainbow.Three other Giants pitchers — Landon Roupp, JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker — wore the Pride hat, but cited Bible verses next to the rainbow logo.Hentges added: “It’s just something that I feel like I was forced to support when I don’t morally support it.There wasn’t hatred behind it.

I think that’s kind of something that’s misinterpreted.I don’t hate the LGBTQ community.”Grant Brisbee of The Athletic wrote a scathing column demonizing the Christian ballplayers.

“This was another tone-deaf response to what should have been a moment for community unity,” he wrote.“They made the night about ‘us versus them.’ That’s the only thing they could see.”Actually, it is Brisbee who made the night “us versus them.” He refused to consider the viewpoint of the Christian ballplayers, who gave what seems a reasonable explanation for their actions.The more things change, the more they stay the same.Fifty years ago, Giants’ relief pitcher Gary Lavelle became a born-again Christian, in the winter of 1976.

When he returned to the club the next year, he gradually and quietly began to share his faith with his teammates when they showed an interest.Several, including Bob Knepper, Jack Clark, Rob Andrews and Randy Moffitt (brother of tennis great Billie Jean King) came to faith, and by the 1978 season there were eight or nine professing Christians on the team.The Giants, who had suffered through several losing seasons, came to life that year and led the National League West for much of ...