MLB players who wrote Bible verses on their hats when their teams decided to celebrate Pride Night have a new ally, the federal government.
The U.S. Department of Justice has referred the case involving MLB’s warning to four San Francisco Giants players, to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), claiming the league might have discriminated against them on religious grounds after they wrote Bible verses on their hats during the team’s Pride Night celebration last week.
The league charged Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker, and Ryan Walker with breaking league protocol by writing the verses on their Pride Night hats. On this particular night, the “SF” logo on the front of their caps was filled in with rainbow colors. Another player, Sam Hentges, elected not to wear the cap at all.
MLB followed up by issuing the players a warning for violating uniform policy.
In a letter to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, the DOJ revealed that it was referring the league to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
“The three players expressed their opposition to MLB’s pro-Pride orthodoxy,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in the letter. “The Civil Rights Act prohibits MLB and its franchises from unreasonably burdening the rights of players with religious objections to serving as the League’s vehicle for pro-Pride messages.
“Federal law is clear: employers must modify their uniform requirements to reasonably accommodate their employees’ exercise of religion. The Trump administration is committed to combatting religious discrimination.”
Dhillon’s reference to the duty of employers to modify uniform requirements comes after a key 2015 ruling in favor of a Muslim woman who was denied a job at Abercrombie & Fitch because her hijab did not align with the company’s dress code.
The Giants released a statement saying:
“The San Francisco Giants are proud to support Pride Night and the LGBTQ+ community… We also respect that individuals may make personal choices about participating in team activations. We understand that the choices by individual players has caused pain and anger to many in the LGBTQ+ community and we are sorry for that.”
