It's June, and that means it's time for everyone's favorite yearly June tradition—no, not Pride Month, but rather Christians getting mad about Pride Month and sharing Jesus Christ's love by condemning LGBTQ+ people for having the temerity to exist.
The latest chapter in this yearly saga comes from the Tampa Bay Rays major league baseball team, some players of which elected not to participate in the team's Pride Night this past weekend because they "believe in Jesus."
In celebration of Pride Month the team was asked to wear a rainbow logo on their uniforms.
But one group of players led by pitcher Jason Adams refused on the basis of a "faith-based decision."
Christ has "encouraged us to live a lifestyle that would abstain from that behavior," pitcher Jason Adam said. https://t.co/mxRh28DXu4
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) June 6, 2022
Speaking to the Tampa Bay Times, Adams explained his and the other players' decision to honor Jesus Christ by refusing to wear a logo on their uniforms for one game.
"...[I]t comes down to faith, to like a faith-based decision."
"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."
No offense to Adams, but if making LGBTQ+ people feel "welcome and loved" is the goal, refusing to participate in a Pride event because Jesus supposedly hates LGBTQ+ people is not the way to do it.
Adams went on to word-salad about how he thinks LGBTQ+ people are great, but should not be encouraged because his version of Jesus is homophobic.
"...[W]hen we put [the logo] 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..."
Taking a stand against a community is pretty much exactly what it means to "look down on" or "think differently" about a group of people.
"...[Jesus] 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."
It's actually extremely different for myriad reasons not least of which is that unlike "sex outside the confines of marriage," Jesus never even once mentioned a single word about homosexuality or LGBTQ+ people in any record of his words, in or out of the Bible.
As you might gather, outside of the usual right-wing bigots and religious zealots, Adams' decision was very unpopular on social media.
I'm sorry. By saying he's supposed to "refrain from that behavior," is he claiming that wearing the rainbow colors means he's being gay? He seems confused. No one's forcing them to be gay.
— Youngkin and Miyares Must Go (@CarlieWeddingt1) June 6, 2022
Wonder if any of these players take the Lord's name in vain, use profanity, or play on the Sabbath?
— MIGIRLINVA (@MIGIRLINVA1) June 6, 2022
Hey Jason Adams, please point out the specific quote/quotes in the Bible where Jesus mentions gays. You can't, because Jesus never mentions gays. That was actually your PREACHER, politicians, and friends/family manipulating you into being a judgmental bigot. You're weak-minded. https://t.co/v5AKZq2lCP
— Lissa K Diamond🏜🏳️🌈🦂🐕🌊🕯🗡🗳💙🇺🇦 (@LissaKDiamond) June 6, 2022
Once again, there's no hate quite like Christian love.
— i should probably be reading (@browniesO_O) June 6, 2022
Good for the Tampa Bay Rays to have Pride Night this year despite the heavy backlash in Florida. As for Jason Adams, religious bigots are one of the worst aspects of American life and have to be condemned and fought at every turn. https://t.co/GhNBWSAJNf
— Ric Caric (@riccaric) June 6, 2022
Christ was never seen at a baseball game.
— Nora Dunn (@noradunn) June 6, 2022
I think we must follow different Jesus’ then. Jesus accepted everybody. That’s why he was so awesome :)
— Cynthia Mahoney (@cynth_mahons) June 6, 2022
FACT CHECK: Jesus never said a word about homosexuality, but he did tell Tampa Rays pitcher Jason Adams not to be a judgmental, holier-than-thou asshole. https://t.co/nDCmrnIfQZ
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) June 6, 2022
Don’t knock it until you try it https://t.co/BoMdqO6hmc
— Meeshie (@Hardycharchar) June 6, 2022
When did Jesus ever even imply he was anti-gay? They’ll never be able to answer that.
— Kevin E. McCarthy 🇺🇦- ONLY VOTING MATTERS!! (@cook4beginners) June 6, 2022
In the end, Saturday night's Pride-themed game was better attended than the average Rays game on a regular day, which will hopefully remind Adams and his fellow homophobes for Christ they are in the minority.
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