Dodger Stadium will host the LGBTQ+ Pride Night on Friday after weeks of back and forth and emotional reactions to the involvement of a group of self-described “queer and trans nuns” who are active in community and charity programs.
The Pride Night event is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m., about two hours before the first of a three-game series against the rival San Francisco Giants.
The Dodgers have held Pride Nights for 10 years, but Friday’s event comes as debate continues over the team’s plan to recognize the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence with a Community Hero Award during the celebration of the event.
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles calls for a boycott against the Dodgers at the invitation of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence as they say he is an anti-Catholic who mocks religion.
The award recognizes the group’s efforts to promote human rights, diversity and spiritual enlightenment, but the Dodgers’ announcement of plans to honor the Sisters was met with backlash from some Catholic groups and US Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida.
Rubio called the Sisters a lewd mockery of Christianity.
Emotions over the high-profile controversy remain high.
A protest organized by the religious organization Catholics for Catholics is scheduled for the hours before Friday’s game at Dodger Stadium.
The ‘prayer procession’ is scheduled between 3 and 7 p.m., “in reparation for offenses committed against Jesus Christ and all Christians,” he said the group on their website.
The Sisters said they are dedicated to community service, ministry and outreach to underserved communities.
After heavy criticism, the Dodgers apologized and once again invited a group who dress as nuns in drag to the team’s Gay Pride Night. Dinorah Perez reports.
“After 27 years of activism and protests, including those fighting Proposition 8 for our right to marry the ones we love, we certainly cannot complain about our fellow Angelenos expressing their First Amendment rights,” the Sisters told Los Angeles Times in an email.
Another protest against the Sisters’ participation is scheduled for 4:30 pm, in a parking lot at Dodger Stadium. Protesters will also gather in Grand Park for a march.
Los Angeles Archbishop to Dedicate Mass for ‘Healing’
Hours before the first pitch, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gómez plans to dedicate a mass Friday “to heal the damage caused by the Dodgers’ decision to honor a group that intentionally denigrates and desecrates the Christian faith.”
“On Friday we celebrate the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” Gomez said in a statement. “… We will be praying in a special way for our city and country, for an end to prejudice, and for a renewed respect for the religious beliefs of all Angelenos and all Americans.
“In a message to the faithful, the Archdiocese stressed the ‘disappointment, dismay and pain’ caused by the group’s actions against the Christian faith and the Dodgers’ decision to honor the group even after acknowledging the community’s concerns. ”.
The “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” were on the Dodgers honoree list through Wednesday morning.
The Dodgers declined to comment on Gomez’s comments.
Gomez will celebrate Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels at 12:10 p.m.
Earlier this week, the United States Conference of Bishops issued a statement that read, in part, “This year, on June 16, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a professional baseball team elected amazing to honor a group whose lasciviousness and vulgarity in mocking our Lord, His Mother and consecrated women cannot be overstated. This is not only offensive and painful to Christians everywhere, it is blasphemy.”
timeline of events
On May 5, the Dodgers they withdrew the invitation in a move that drew criticism from local elected officials and LGBTQ+ advocacy groups who said the entire message of the Pride movement is one of inclusion, and that banning the Sisters was seen as an affront to that mission.
The Dodgers pulled the Sisters from their LGBTQ+ Pride Night the day after Bill Donohue, president and CEO of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, emailed Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred , to urge the team to retire the group.
Some of the most prominent LGBTQ+ organizations in Southern California threatened to skip Pride night at the stadium. The Sisters issued a statement expressing their deep affront that they were not invited and calling the decision a capitulation to hateful and misleading information from outsiders of their community.
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On May 22, the Dodgers changed course and they invited the Sisters back to be part of the event on Friday night.
“After much thoughtful feedback from our various communities, honest conversations within the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, and generous discussions with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Los Angeles Dodgers would like to offer our sincere apologies to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Perpetual Indulgence, members of the LGBTQ+ community and their friends and family,” the team said in a statement.
“In the coming weeks, we will continue to work with our LGBTQ+ partners to better educate ourselves, find ways to strengthen the ties that bind us together, and use our platform to support all of our fans who make up the diversity of the Dodgers family.”
About a week later, the team announced plans for a “Day of Christian faith and family” at Dodger Stadium on July 30.
