Florida attorney general launches probe into MLB Pride Night warnings: ‘It is religious discrimination’

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCJB/AP) - Following a controversial incident during a Major League Baseball Pride Night event in California, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier says he’s launched an investigation.

The state attorney general announced on Friday that he’s issued an investigative subpoena to MLB to determine whether the league is engaging in religious discrimination by enforcing its dress code.

Several members of the San Francisco Giants added Bible verses or opted not to wear the themed cap at all during the club’s Pride Night on June 12. A few nights earlier, two Los Angeles Dodgers players did not wear rainbow-themed caps with their teammates.

MLB warned Giants players that writing on the caps is a violation of league policy, though the league added its issue was not with the content of the respective messages but the act of modifying the cap itself.

Uthmeier claims the MLB’s warning was punishing Christian players for displaying Bible verses. He says the league routinely permits and even encourages secular, “social justice,” and ideological messages.

“Major League Baseball claims it does not tolerate discrimination based on religion, yet its actions tell a different story,” said Attorney General James Uthmeier. “If MLB applauds ideological messages it prefers while reprimanding expressions of Christian faith, that is not neutral rule enforcement—it is religious discrimination that cannot stand in Florida.”

The league issued another statement Tuesday to clarify that the “routine verbal warning” had nothing to do with the content of the respective messages but the act of modifying the uniform.

“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 league said.

The fallout has included criticism from notable politicians, including Vice President JD Vance and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is reported to be investigating the incident.

Giants pitcher referenced a rainbow-themed Bible verse

Several members of the San Francisco Giants pitching staff — starter Landen Roupp and relievers JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker — added Bible verses to their caps during a 5-1 home loss to the Chicago Cubs during San Francisco’s annual Pride Night.

Roupp, a North Carolina native, wrote “Gen 9:12-16” in a silver marker on the front of the black cap, which had the team’s classic “SF” logo filled in with colors of the rainbow, long a symbol of the LGBTQ+ community.

The Genesis passage includes, “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth,” according to the Bible’s New International Version translation.

“It’s just about God’s covenant and a promise he makes to us and his faithfulness and his mercy,” Roupp told reporters afterward. “Just kind of something I believe in and I stand firm in that and thankfully we live in a country where you know, we have freedom to believe what we want, yeah, and express what we want.”

Giants reliever Sam Hentges eschewed the Pride-themed cap altogether, opting instead for the club’s regular black version with the “SF” in orange.

MLB has dealt with similar player resistance before, and it’s not just a baseball problem

In 2022, a handful of players on the Tampa Bay Rays declined to wear rainbow-colored logos during the team’s Pride Night. Reliever Jason Adam, now a member of the San Diego Padres, called it a “faith-based” decision.

“It’s just what we believe the lifestyle he’s (Jesus) encouraged us to live for our good, not to withhold,” Adam told the Tampa Bay Times in 2022. “But we love these men and women, we care about them and we want them to feel safe and welcome here.”

MLB is unique among the four major North American pro sports leagues in that a portion of its regular season falls in June, which is recognized as Pride Month in many countries, including the U.S. All but one MLB team — the Texas Rangers — schedules a Pride Night during June.

Other leagues, including the NBA and NHL, do have a majority of teams hold Pride-themed nights during their seasons. The NHL had a series of high-profile dust-ups around Pride Nights during the 2022-23 season.

Several players opted not to don Pride-themed pregame jerseys that season and at least two teams — the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild — declined to host Pride Nights after initially advertising they would. Neither team offered a reason behind the decision.

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