Tampa Bay Rays Players Split Over Wearing Rainbow Logos on Pride Night
Tampa Bay Times reports.“Our Pride Nights continue to grow both in terms of visibility and participation,” the team’s president Matt Silverman told the paper. “By doing this, we extend an invitation not just for this game but for all of our games that the LGBTQ+ community is invited, welcomed, and celebrated.” The Rays’ manager Kevin Cash said he didn’t think the player’s decision would affect the team negatively, the Associated Press reports.
He said the players had been in discussions over the last few weeks about wearing the logos.“First and foremost, I think the organization has done a really good thing to have Pride Night’s supporting our gay community to come out and have a nice night at the ballpark,” Cash said, according to the news wire. “Impressed that our players have had those conversions and we want to support our players that choose to wear or choose not to wear to the best of our capabilities.”Rays pitcher Jason Adam chose not to wear the logo.
He said that it was a “faith-based decision,” according to the Times.“So it’s a hard decision. Because ultimately we all said what we want is them to know that all are welcome and loved here,” Adam said. “But when we put it on our bodies, I think a lot of guys decided that it’s just a lifestyle that maybe — not that they look down on anybody or think differently — it’s just that maybe we don’t want to encourage it if we believe in Jesus, who’s encouraged us to live a lifestyle that would abstain from that behavior, just like [Jesus] encourages me as a heterosexual male to abstain from sex outside of the confines of marriage.
It’s no different.”Other players that peeled the burst logo off the uniform and wore the standard hat included Jalen Beeks, Brooks Raley,.
