A crowd of Catholic protesters shut down the main gate at Dodger Stadium ahead of Friday night's Pride Night celebration.
The latest controversy around the Dodgers' Pride Night comes after the Dodgers initially announced that they would be rescinding an invitation for the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to participate after Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and some representatives of the Catholic faith wrote letters to the Dodgers objecting to their inclusion in the event.
The Dodgers eventually re-invited the Sisters to participate after a number of LGBTQ+ groups bowed out in response to the Sisters' being nixed from the event.
"We have asked the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to take their place on the field at our 10th annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night on June 16th," a team statement said. "We are pleased to share that they have agreed to receive the gratitude of our collective communities for the lifesaving work that they have done tirelessly for decades."
The end result of the controversy was a "prayerful procession" held at a parking lot outside Dodger Stadium before the Pride Night game, which ended up shutting down the main gate into the stadium.
The Sisters apparently made a brief appearance at the stadium on Friday.
Speaking with reporters before the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke in support of the Pride Night, per The Athletic:
“For me, this is an existential question for me,” Roberts said Friday, donning a Pride-themed Dodgers hat. “It’s a big, overarching kind of question in the sense that my parents raised me to love everyone. To respect everyone. Treat people the way that you would want to be treated. We’re not always going to agree on everyone’s decisions in life. That’s the way the world works. And that’s okay. I do think that we should still all be able to coexist.
“For me, it just always goes back to loving everyone, and as the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, a baseball team, I welcome – we welcome anyone that comes through these gates to support our ballclub.”
