After SF Giants Pride Night Culture Clash, Scott Wiener Claps Back at Republicans

The controversy stems from the team’s series opener against the Chicago Cubs on June 12 at Oracle Park, when the team held a themed celebration in honor of Pride. Giants players donned special caps for the game that featured the team’s “SF” logo in a rainbow colorway.

Pitchers Landen Roupp, J.T. Brubaker and Ryan Walker wrote variations of “Gen 9:12-16,” referring to an Old Testament passage about rainbows symbolizing a “covenant between God and every living creature,” on their Pride Night caps. Sam Hentges, another pitcher, wore the team’s classic black and orange cap instead.

The protest earned a verbal warning from MLB, which said the players’ actions violated league policy.

“Writing of any kind, with any message, is prohibited per Major League Baseball’s Uniform Regulations, which provides in part that, ‘[a] Player may not write, attach, affix, embroider or otherwise display nicknames or messages on apparel or playing equipment,” the league said in a widely reported statement Tuesday.

MLB said the players were told not to wear the written-on hats in future games, but that the action was not disciplinary and “had absolutely nothing to do with the content of the message.

“We respect players’ right to free expression … We have given the same warning numerous times in the past to players for messages such as ‘Dad,’ ‘Happy Mother’s Day, I Love Mom’ and names of family members,” the statement said.

After reports that the players had been chastised, Vice President JD Vance weighed in on the social media platform, X, saying: “Trump won, we don’t have to do this anymore.”

Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley also sent a letter to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, demanding an explanation for the league’s “apparent pattern of discriminating against Christians while promoting left-wing ideologies.”

“Quoting the Bible? That’s now an employment offense? You’ve got to be kidding me. God bless these players. MLB has some explaining to do,” Hawley said on social media.

Wiener fired back at the conservative leaders, writing in response to Vance: “In San Francisco, unlike in the White House, we treat LGBTQ people as full human beings & we think bigotry is bad. Perhaps go back into your cave for a minute to chill out.”

He alleged that the backlash was meant to bully MLB out of enforcing its policies.

He also called on the Giants to take action over the players’ protest, saying their response was inconsistent with longstanding support for the LGBTQ+ community.

In 1994, the Giants were the first professional sports team to host an HIV/AIDS awareness game — now an annual event. The team became the first in the MLB to incorporate Pride colors into on-field uniforms for the Pride game in 2021.

In a statement, the Giants said: “The San Francisco Giants are proud to support Pride Night and the LGBTQ+ community … We also respect that individuals may make personal choices about participating in team activations.

“We understand the choice by individual players has caused pain and anger to many in the LGBTQ+ community and we are sorry for that. Those choices do not change our organization’s commitment to inclusion, belonging, and creating a welcoming environment for all,” the statement said.