Texas Rangers have pledged inclusivity, but pride game remains absent

The baseball calendar in June is populated annually by game promotions to celebrate pride month and welcome the LGBTQ portion of an MLB team’s fan base.

They’ve been known by various titles over the years: “Gay Day,” “Out at the Ballpark,” or just simply “Pride Night.”

The Rangers are the only team that doesn’t have a pride game promotion of any kind. There’s no indication that they’re planning to have one in the near future, either.

Experts and advocates say there’s value in hosting a pride night — specifically in celebrating that portion of the fan base as a way to grow it and retain it — as well as highlighting other efforts.

The Rangers haven’t publicly spoken about their specific internal initiatives to promote LGBTQ inclusion, instead highlighting their overall work on broader issues such as diversity and inclusion.

The Rangers declined to speak about their stance on hosting a pride day and the franchise’s work supporting the LGBTQ community. The Rangers haven’t done an external, public facing event, akin to the 29 other MLB franchises.

The majority of other professional teams in North Texas have celebrated pride in some fashion during a game.

“They’ve made some efforts, but it’s very much a start,” said Rafael McDonnell, who works as a liaison between pro sports teams and the Resource Center, the community center that serves LGBTQ North Texas. “Compared to their peer professional sports teams, they have some distance to go.”

Fans celebrate Pride Weekend during the game between the Oakland Athletics and the Kansas City Royals at O.co Coliseum on June 27, 2015 in Oakland, California. The Royals defeated the Athletics 3-2. (Michael Zagaris / Getty Images)

The Chicago Cubs first debuted pride games in 2001. The inaugural “Out at Wrigley” game set the blueprint for nearly every other team to adopt similar events, although most did so many years later.

They’ve begun in full force over the last decade, with the Rangers as the lone holdout after the Astros scheduled one in 2020 that was later canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Astros are scheduled to host their first Pride Night on June 16 against the Rangers. The Yankees, who have no theme nights whatsoever, hosted a Legacy of Pride night in 2019 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

The ongoing pandemic has interfered with teams’ abilities for many promotions, including pride games, though more than half of the 30 MLB teams already have them on the calendar this year.

Curious why the Rangers didn’t have one, McDonnell decided to reach out to the Rangers in 2019 to inquire about the reason.

“I got a statement from the Rangers, and it was pretty bland,” said McDonnell, the Resource Center’s advocacy and communications manager.

He then reached out to MLB ambassador for inclusion Billy Bean, who came out as gay after a six-year MLB playing career. The two sat down for a meeting in Dallas. That led to Bean helping to set up a meeting between the Resource Center and the Rangers in October 2019.

He showed two Texas staffers how other teams were doing pride promotions and merchandising. The meeting set up a line of communication with the Resource Center.

Two years later, McDonnell said he’d still like to see the Rangers have a pride night. The Rangers have indicated previously that they have no plans to schedule one.

The team did not respond to follow-up questions from The Dallas Morning News regarding future plans.

In a written statement to The News, the team pointed to its work internally on topics surrounding diversity and inclusion.

“Our commitment is to make everyone feel welcome and included in Rangers baseball,” said Executive VP for Communications John Blake. “That means in our ballpark, at every game, and in all we do — for both our fans and our employees. We deliver on that promise across our many programs to have a positive impact across our entire community.”

The Rangers had a promotional game in 2003, where it invited LGBT community groups, according to the LGBT magazine, The Advocate. It wasn’t a formal pride game promotion, according to the article, but groups such as Dallas’ gay and lesbian volleyball league, gay rugby and softball leagues as well as the Texas Gay Rodeo Association were invited.

The event drew anti-gay protests, though.

No similar event has since been scheduled. The Rangers do schedule community-based theme nights, including multiple military appreciation nights, first responder games and multiple heritage nights for fans from different ethnic backgrounds.

The last time anyone from the team publicly addressed a possible Rangers pride game was in August 2020, when Rangers COO Neil Leibman indicated one wasn’t in the Rangers’ plans.

“With respect to Pride Night, we reached out to the Resource Center and said what can we do internally,” Rangers COO Neil Leibman told The News last summer. “We immediately adopted some changes they suggested to be more inclusive in hiring practices. I think that’s more meaningful than just saying ‘OK, we had a Pride Night.’”

But McDonnell said teams should still do both, as many around the sports world do.

“If you say, ‘We’re doing one and not the other,’ is where you run into a problem,” McDonnell said. “… I don’t think it’s mutually exclusive. I think you can do both.”

The Rangers highlighted other community initiatives they currently participate in, including the development of their Inclusion and Community Impact Council. The team’s foundation participated in MLB’s Shred Hate campaign, directed at anti-bullying, and has volunteered with the Resource Center.

But none of the initiatives relates directly to LGBTQ language, and others around baseball say it’s important to back up strong internal work with external support, such as a pride game.

“Every market has gay, lesbian, transgender fans,” said Greg Bader, senior vice president of administration and experience for the Baltimore Orioles. “And for them to feel like they are wanted at the ballpark and valued as a fan is important.

“Part of what we did with our LGBTQ pride night — that sent a very clear message that members of that community are valued by the club, by the organization, and that we want them to be fans and we want them to come to games.”

Typically pride nights across baseball involve clubs inviting LGBTQ groups to games. There’s LGBTQ signage and other ways for the team to show its support.

The Tampa Bay Rays hosted a pride night in 2016 just days after the Pulse shooting in Orlando, in which a gunman killed 49 people inside the gay nightclub venue.

Tickets to the Rays game that night at Tropicana Field were $5 and proceeds were donated to the Pulse Victims Fund. The game sold out.

When the Astros scheduled their first pride night for 2020, a team spokesperson told The Houston Chronicle: “We recognize this is one of the most diverse cities in the country, and we recognize the city has one of the strongest, if not the strongest, LGBTQ communities in the state.”

Billy Bean, Major League Baseball vice president of Social Responsibility & Inclusion, throws out the ceremonial first pitch to Seattle Mariners' Felix Hernandez before a baseball game between the Mariners and Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Aug. 19, 2016, in Seattle. The Mariners were celebrating LGBTQ Pride Night at the ballpark. (Elaine Thompson / AP)

The Rangers scheduling a pride night is “inevitable,” Bean said, but the timing is ultimately up to the club. Bean works with MLB’s commissioner’s office, and regularly meets with players, coaches and front office personnel across all 30 teams to assist in inclusion initiatives.

His 2014 hire has coincided with an increasing number of teams scheduling pride games, and he’s part of that driving force.

“I think their engagement with the LGBTQ-plus community is going to continue to grow,” Bean said. “But how that is, is up to them.”

To have a successful pride game, Bean believes relationships first need to be fostered within the community. A pride game, in his view, is more of the culmination of the work that the Rangers are doing.

“I try to engage in the LGBTQ communities to give the clubs resources that will allow them to feel confident to have a night like that so people will come to the ballpark,” Bean said. “I think if there’s no history or nothing behind the origin of the night, I think the community is probably going to wonder, ‘Why are they doing it?’”

Geography also plays into it, he said.

The political backdrop of Arlington isn’t the same as it might be in Chicago, which isn’t the same as it might be in any other MLB city. Is it relevant to why the Rangers haven’t hosted a pride game?

But the Mavericks, Stars, FC Dallas and the Wings — also located in Arlington — all have pride games. The Cowboys, like most NFL teams, do not have a pride game.

The Rangers have taken steps to improve inclusivity over the last two years. They’ve improved language to make sexual orientation and gender identity protected classes in their hiring practices — McDonnell even said they were a “leader” in this area. They’ve started conversations and done training that wasn’t previously happening.

Behind the scenes, there’s some work being done. Publicly, though, the Rangers remain behind their counterparts across the sport.

“I think when all 30 clubs do a pride night, this question is never going to be asked again,” Bean said. “Because it only sounds interesting when someone is not doing something.”

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