For nearly three decades, the St. Louis Cardinals have held a yearly event called “Christian Day.” The team calls this a reflection of its commitment “to bringing like-minded groups together to share in the unifying experience of Cardinals baseball.” The same commitment manifests itself in Jewish Community Night, Catholic Family Night, Bosnian Heritage Night, Fiesta Cardenales (heavy on cultural appropriation, I hope), etc. And this year the Cardinals are scheduled to host their first “Pride Night” for members of the LGBT Community.
The guest speaker for Christian Day is former Cardinals star Lance Berkman, a strongly committed Christian. A few years ago, Berkman spoke out against a Houston city ordinance that would allow transgender people access to bathrooms opposite their biological gender.
Berkman explained:
The issue is, what to do about a 15 or 16-year-old boy who thinks he’s a girl and wants to shower with the girls. Maybe he is [transgender], maybe he’s confused. But I wouldn’t want him in the shower with my daughters. We shouldn’t have the rights of 2 percent of the population trump the rights of the other 98 percent.
Berkman’s selection drew an outcry from the LGBTQ community. An organization called St. Louis Pride said it was “disappointed by the decision of the St. Louis Cardinals to provide a public platform for Berkman, an individual whose words and actions towards the LGBTQ+ are divisive and demeaning.”
The Cardinals are sticking to their guns, however. And they should.
Berkman’s words are no more divisive than the push to have boys (biologically speaking) shower with girls. Indeed, it can be argued that they are less divisive, since it is the LGBTQ activists who are trying to change radically longstanding rules for who goes to the bathroom and showers where. That’s the origin of the “division.”
This doesn’t necessarily mean that the LGBTQ activists’ position is wrong — division is often okay. It means they are using weasel words — “divisive” and “demeaning” — to game the debate and disguise their radicalism.
That’s their prerogative. But I’m glad that the baseball team isn’t buying it. Berkman is a former Cardinal and a strong Christian. This makes him a good choice to speak on the Cards Christian Day.
However, I should add that if, during the event, Berkman speaks against “bathroom legislation,” the Cardinals should not object if, during “Pride Night,” someone speaks in favor of it. The best thing would be if the issue — hardly a momentous one — goes unaddressed on both occasions.
Via Joshua Gill at the Daily Caller.
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