On Friday, June 12, the San Francisco Giants held their annual Pride Night to honor the LGBTQ+ community. Here’s what players had to say, and an exchange I had with John Shea of the SF Standard.
Four Christian ballplayers on the Giants made a statement about their faith. While all the other players wore a Giants hat with a rainbow patch attached, one pitcher, Sam Hentges, wore his regular Giants cap without the rainbow.
Landon Rupp (photo courtesy SF Standard)
Three other Giants pitchers, Landon Roupp, JT Brubaker, and Ryan Walker, wore the pride hat but had Bible verse addresses next to the rainbow logo. The verses were from the account of God putting a rainbow in the sky after the worldwide flood as a promise: “And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh” (Genesis 9:15). People had become so wicked prior to the flood that God started fresh with Noah and his family. And as wicked as we continue to be in this world, God has kept his promise.
As Roupp said, “It’s just about God’s covenant and a promise that he makes to us.” Hentges added, “It’s just something that I feel like I was forced to support when I don’t morally support it. There wasn’t hatred behind it. I think that’s kind of something that’s misinterpreted. I don’t hate the LGBTQ community.”
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I wrote a book titled The God Squad: The Born-Again San Francisco Giants of 1978. Although there was no Giants Pride Night back then, pitcher Gary Lavelle said, “God says homosexuality is a sin. You have to understand this. I condemn the sin, not the sinner. I still have friends who are homosexuals. I’m their friend, but I tell them God says it’s a sin.” Lavelle was castigated by the media and the fans for his stance, as were these four pitchers on the current Giants.
John Shea of The San Francisco Standard wrote an article about the recent Pride Night. As he had previously reviewed my book, he asked my opinion about the event. Here’s the part he included in his column.
Matt Sieger, who published the book “The God Squad” in 2023 that analyzed the 1978 Giants featuring many born-again Christians, including Gary Lavelle and Bob Knepper, said Saturday the “God Squadders” he wrote about likely would have done the same thing Roupp and the others did Friday. “The clubhouse is still a microcosm of society today, just as it was in 1978,” Sieger said.
That was fair and correct, but I think it’s instructive to let readers see the full version of my email exchange with Shea.
Shea: See the Giants stuff at the game tonight? What do you think as the author of your book?
Sieger: I think the God Squad guys would have responded as Landon Roupp did, either by placing a Bible verse next to the rainbow or by refusing the rainbow-symbol hat altogether. And I think they would have received criticism from the community for doing so. It’s the same issue that the God Squadders ran into. Gary Lavelle was very clear that he believed homosexuality was a sin, but that he still had friends who were homosexual. In other words, God hates the sin but loves the sinner. His belief was based on several definitive Bible passages that speak of homosexuality as contrary to God’s design. But people felt that, because he expressed that belief, he was being intolerant.
Shea: To ask you further, as the author of the God Squad, how do you feel all these years later that there’s still division in the clubhouses and in the stadiums about a subject that is far more in the open than it was in the old days, while the league and other leagues supposedly are preaching inclusivity?
Sieger: It does not surprise me at all that there is still division over the topic of homosexuality in the clubhouse, the stadiums, and the community. Those, like Roupp and Lavelle, who have put their trust in Jesus, believe that the Old and New Testaments are God’s word and should be taken literally. The Bible makes statements such as this one: “You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22). Those who do not believe in God or who do not believe the Bible is God’s word are left to draw their own conclusions about what is right and wrong, and the general attitude in society is that an individual can do whatever he or she likes as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else. So the clubhouse is still a microcosm of society today, just as it was in 1978.
Shea: I’m not an expert with the Bible, and correct me if I’m wrong, but I imagine one could find verses that would lead people to go in different directions based on how they interpret the wording. You mentioned Leviticus 18:22. Based on some basic online searching, I see that 1 Peter 2:17 teaches to honor everyone, and Galatians 5:22–23 teaches to love everyone. Am I off base? Not sure if those are popular verses. The Giants have had pride days for years, and this is probably the first time so many players have reacted this way. Remember Kevin Gausman in 2021? He was all in on pitching that day and wearing the cap. First year (and first team) to wear those caps.
Sieger: Certainly, we are to honor and love others. So it is a fine line for a Christian to walk. But I believe we can love others without condoning their behavior. Condoning sends a message to the world that we are okay with people violating God’s standards. On the other hand, I don’t think Christians should go around bashing people with the Bible. Rather, we should gently guide them to consider Jesus, who changes people from the inside out.
