New York Times compares anti-Catholic drag group to Jackie Robinson amid LA Dodgers controversy

“The Dodgers, who integrated Major League Baseball in 1947 by calling up Jackie Robinson, have long viewed themselves as champions of inclusion, and the annual Pride Night has been a high-priority event for the team,” the article read.”

Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier to Major League Baseball in 1947 when the Dodgers brought him up from the minors six days before the start of the season, seven years before the Brown v. Board of Education case desegregated public schools. He is regarded as a hero in the civil rights movement among the likes of Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

His number 42 is the only one to be retired across the entire league. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, two years before the Civil Rights Act was signed into law.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, are a group of Drag Queens founded on Easter Sunday, 1979. They dress as nuns, their motto is “Go forth and sin some more,” and they claim to be “a leading-edge order of queer and trans nuns.”

The Dodgers said the group has been doing “Lifesaving work…tirelessly for decades.”

After receiving complaints from activists, the Dodgers reversed a decision to disinvite the group. In a statement they said, “After much thoughtful feedback from our diverse communities, honest conversations within the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and generous discussions with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Los Angeles Dodgers would like to offer our sincerest apologies to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, members of the LGBTQ+ community and their friends and families.”

The group was originally uninvited to the Pride Night festivities after leaders in the Catholic faith complained. They said, “In an effort not to distract from the great benefits that we have seen over the years of Pride Night, we are deciding to remove [the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence] from this year’s group of honorees.”