The Los Angeles Dodgers are striking out with LGBT organizations after throwing a changeup with a drag troupe that has invoked the fury of Catholics.
At least two organizations, LA Pride and the Los Angeles LGBT Center, plan to pull out of the professional baseball team’s annual Pride Night celebration scheduled for a home game on June 16 to protest the Dodgers disinviting the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence from the event in which the group of “queer and trans nuns” was set to receive a Community Hero Award.
“As a longstanding partner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, we are very disappointed in their decision to rescind their invitation to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to be honored at the 10th annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night,” LA Pride said in a statement. “As a result and in solidarity with our community, LA Pride will not be participating in this year’s Dodgers Pride Night event.”
LA Pride produces the annual LA Pride Parade and Festival.
The Los Angeles LGBT Center also said it no longer intends to participate and encouraged the Dodgers to cancel the event if the team does not reconsider its decision, local ABC affiliate KABC-TV reported.
“Our community is being used as political pawns in a way that I don’t remember in my lifetime,” said Joe Hollendoner, CEO of the group. “This is why we need the Dodgers to not bend in the slightest, and in fact be strong in their allyship to us because it’s not just about this one instance.”
Facing blowback from Catholic organizations and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) who say the group mocks their faith, the Dodgers released a statement last week announcing the “controversy” prompted the team to rescind an invitation to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
“Given the strong feelings of people who have been offended by the sisters’ inclusion in our evening, and in an effort not to distract from the great benefits that we have seen over the years of Pride Night, we are deciding to remove them from this year’s group of honorees,” the statement said.
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The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence calls itself the “leading-edge Order of queer and trans nuns” in San Francisco and has a chapter in L.A. The group, which claims not to be anti-Catholic, says its members use “humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency, and guilt that chain the human spirit” while promoting human rights and diversity.
Over the weekend, Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken invited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to join her for a Pride Night being held by the Anaheim Angels.
“I’m inviting the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to join me for @Angels Pride Night at Anaheim Stadium on June 7. Pride should be inclusive and like many, I was disappointed in the Dodgers decision. #CityofKindness #Anaheim,” Aitken tweeted.