Dodger Pride Night Dissenters Batting for the Same Team?

To hear the LA Dodgers, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles tell it, they all want people to stop hating, and show each other respect. It appears they are all on the same team.

So Dodger Pride Night coming up next Friday, June 16, offers a terrific opportunity for everyone to practice what they preach.

Instead, a month ago the Dodger drag drama threatened to bench the 10th annual Pride Night at Dodger Stadium, when plans to honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence during the festivities landed in controversy under the floodlights.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, along with groups not affiliated with Los Angeles, said the Sisters’ good deeds have fallen foul, because what they wear makes a mockery of Catholic women.

The campy mostly male performers, who dress in habits and wear makeup, were subsequently disinvited from Pride Night by the Dodgers. A backlash resulted from numerous LGBT groups and supporters, along with threats by the Dodger baseball club’s community nonprofit partner LA Pride to end its association with the event altogether.

“While the L.A. Dodgers were preparing to host an event centered around inclusivity, they instead chose to exclude a well-known LGBTQ+ organization with a rich history of philanthropic and community engagement,” said the Los Angeles County Delegation (including 39 members of the California State Senate and State Assembly), in a statement.

The Dodgers then backtracked, vowing to host Pride Night as originally planned, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles released a statment, which said in part that the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence group “clearly mocks the Catholic faith and makes light of the sincere and holy vocations of our women religious.”

The Sisters, a 501(C)3 charitable organization, says it annually raises thousands of dollars “to distribute to organizations supporting marginalized communities.” The group was established in 1979 in response to the AIDS crisis, “when gay men, who their faiths and families had abandoned because of their orientation, were sick and dying. The Sisters were among the first to raise money to help care for people with AIDS and to create and distribute safer-sex information.”

In a statement, group member Sister Rosie Partridge said: “Our use of religious trappings is a response to those faiths whose members would condemn us and seek to strip away the rights of marginalized communities.”

The Archdiocese response calls on “all Catholics and people of goodwill to stand against bigotry and hate in any form and to stand for respect for one another,” which ironically sounds similar to the calls from the Dodgers and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

Dodger Pride Night:

Presented by Blue Shield of California, the Pride Night festivities get started at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 16, with a pre-game party in the right field pavilion with DJ Bowie J, and includes the award presentation to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The game between the L.A. Dodgers and San Francisco Giants begins at 7:10 p.m.  A drone show will follow the game.

Ticket package:

Includes a ticket to the game and an exclusive Dodgers LGBTQ+ jersey. This special event ticket package must be purchased from this link or through a Group Sales representative. Third-party purchases will not include the item and this is not a stadium-wide promotion.

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