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This is part of Outsports’ series of “Dear Giants” letters written by San Francisco Giants fans and sent to the team after their mishandling of this season’s Pride Night, with Bible verses written on Pride caps by three players intending to send an anti-gay message during Pride Night.
Karla Robson is almost 80 years old. She’s been cheering for the San Francisco Giants for as long as she can remember. She has a wall in her house dedicated to her team, and she even named her dog “McCovey” after the famed Giants player Willie McCovey.
Yet despite not being LGBTQ, he told the team in her “Dear Giants” letter that she’s ashamed of them for the first time.
She addressed her letter specifically to Giants President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey, who held a non-answer press conference that tossed gasoline onto the proverbial fire about 10 days after Pride Night.
Here is Robson’s letter.
Get off the sidelines and into the game
Our weekly playbook is packed with everything from locker room chatter to pressing LGBTQ sports issues.
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Dear Giants,
I am almost 79 years old and have been a Giants fan since they played at Seals Stadium. I’ve been a loyal fan through good times and bad.
I have, over the years, frequently agreed with and disagreed with management’s decisions on everything from mascots to uniforms to coaching changes, announcers, and players.
I have never, however, been ashamed of my team until now.
The recent actions of players who supposedly, in the name of Christianity, cherry-picked a Bible phrase and took a decidedly un-Christian stance of exclusion and judgment to publicly disrespect the LGBTQ+ community were disappointing and embarrassing.
I read the sorry/not sorry statement from the Giants’ front office and felt even more disrespected and disappointed. If the point of Pride Night was to show unity and acceptance of LGBTQ people, it’s not really a “meaningful celebration” if some members of the team go out of their way to show neither, especially when they openly protest those ideas.
Why did the Giants’ coaching staff and/or management allow this damaging protest? What would Giants management say if some of their POC players wrote messages on their caps to “Abolish Ice” or “86-47” or “No One is Illegal on Stolen Land?”
The league should never have had to issue a warning to players who defaced their caps.
It feels to me that on Pride Night, when a rainbow was front and center, the Giants’ true colors came through, and that deeply saddens me. Perhaps players who don’t agree with Pride Night, Mexican Heritage Night, Jewish Heritage Night, Black Heritage Night, or any other special event should sit on the bench for those games instead of denigrating an important day.
And perhaps coaches and management need a remedial course on how to make everyone at the ballpark feel welcome, respected, and valued.
Karla Robson
If you are a longtime San Francisco Giants fan and sent a letter to the team expressing thoughts about their Pride Night debacle, DM us on social media or email us at [email protected]
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