There has been a huge furor about the baseball caps the San Francisco Giants players wore on Pride Night. This night was intended to celebrate the Giants' support for the gay community and gay rights -- and in the process, perhaps get a lot of gay people who don't usually attend baseball games to show up.
Three of the players wrote on their caps to designate a quote from the Christian Bible, to make a clear statement that they did not support the gay rights that were implied by the rainbow on their heads.
I believe that the caps with the rainbow on them were a form of political speech.
Free speech encompasses two rights: - The freedom to say what you want to say, and...
- The freedom from being FORCED to say what you DON'T want to say.
Yes, the three men, who designated a quote from the Bible on their caps, meant to challenge the message that they, as part of the Giants organization, support gay rights. They do not support gay people having equal rights. They do not support gay people having the right to legal marriage. These three men are homophobic. They did not want to wear something on their bodies that sent the message to thousands and thousands of people in the stadium that they were NOT homophobic.
And I support their right to be free from saying something that they totally disagree with.
How would you feel if a right-wing billionaire bought the San Francisco Giants and decided that all the players had to wear MAGA caps? Would you support the players who voiced their disapproval of the MAGA movement by.... oh, say.... putting a rainbow next to the four letters of MAGA, to imply their personal support for gay rights and their distaste for MAGA's depraved agenda?
If you would support the right of players to sabotage MAGA caps as a form of free speech, then you must also support the MAGA folks' right to sabotage the pro-gay message of THEIR caps.
As Voltaire said, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
I mean, really, to wear something on your head that you totally disagree with, in front of tens of thousands of people? That's too much to ask of anyone, in my opinion.
All for now, Bloggellinis. | 
