Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Ryan Thompson understands exactly what’s happening with the media reaction to the San Francisco Giants' Pride Night controversy.
Three Giants pitchers, Landen Roupp, J.T. Brubaker and Ryan Walker, wrote Bible verses on their rainbow-themed hats and the left-wing sports media predictably lost its collective mind.
Roupp wrote a reference to Genesis 9:12-16, which points to the Biblical story of the rainbow as a sign of God’s covenant with Noah and every living creature.
San Francisco Giants pitcher Landen Roupp wrote "Genesis 9:12-16" on his Pride-Night themed hat. (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
Naturally, many in the media began painting him and his teammates as "anti-LGBTQ," "homophobic" and "bigots."
Because, of course.
The players change, but the script stays the same: Christian athlete expresses a biblical view, and the left-wing framing machine immediately kicks into gear. It’s never painted as "pro-Christian" or "pro-faith."
It’s always called "anti-LGBTQ."
That’s how the language gets controlled and it's an important part of the process for the left-wingers.
Thompson, speaking after Tuesday night’s game, explained the issue perfectly.
"A lot of the hate comes from perceived negativity," Thompson said. "I think that there’s a perceived negativity with this stuff of like, OK, Landen Roupp wrote a verse on his hat, that means that he’s anti-something. That doesn’t mean that, right? It means that he’s pro-something."
Exactly.
Roupp writing a Bible verse on his hat doesn’t mean he hates anyone or is attacking a group of people.
It means he believes in something.
"So the rainbow means something to him," Thompson continued. "It means he believes in the Noahic covenant being something that’s special to us as Christians, right? That means that no matter how bad we possibly could be, no matter how much we reject God, that He will never again flood the earth. That’s really cool, that’s really special."
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Ryan Thompson defended Giants' Landen Roupp, saying his Bible verse on a rainbow hat is pro-faith, not anti-LGBTQ. (Maddy Grassy/Getty Images)
For Christians, the rainbow isn't a symbol for gay Pride, a virtue-signaling corporate marketing tool or a sign used for political grandstanding.
It’s biblical.
That doesn’t mean other people can’t view it differently. It doesn’t mean people can’t attach their own meaning to it. It doesn’t mean there has to be a culture war over a colored logo on a baseball cap.
But it does mean Christian athletes are allowed to say what the rainbow means to them.
At least, they should be allowed.
MLB later warned Roupp, Brubaker and Walker that writing on their hats violated the league’s uniform policy, while insisting the warning was routine, nondisciplinary and unrelated to the content of the Bible verses.
But that explanation only makes the larger point more obvious. Pride messaging on the cap was league-and-team-approved expression. A Bible verse written next to it became a uniform violation worthy of a warning. One message was celebrated as inclusion. The other had to be explained, defended and policed.
Thompson kept going and made a key point that applies to more than just this one situation.
"There’s nothing negative, there’s no anti, there’s nothing that says that he doesn’t support anything, or that he’s hateful, or anything like that at all," Thompson said. "It’s all positive. It’s all like, man, this is what the rainbow means to me. And I just thought that was really cool that he did that."
That’s the part the left intentionally ignores.
A Christian athlete can be motivated by faith, not hatred.
A person can believe marriage is between a man and a woman without hating gay people.
A player can believe the rainbow has biblical meaning without attacking anyone else.
A person can decline to participate in a Pride-themed celebration without being a bigot.
That's common sense.
But common sense ceases to exist when it's time for progressive activists to browbeat people into compliance with their worldview.
Diamondbacks pitcher Ryan Thompson said Giants players writing Bible verses on Pride Night hats were expressing faith, not hatred toward anyone. (Kelsey Grant/Arizona Diamondbacks/Getty Images)
This tactic isn’t limited to religion: they're using the exact same maneuver with women’s sports.
Those of us who believe males should not compete in women’s sports (i.e. the majority of Americans) are consistently labeled "anti-trans" or "transphobic." Those are meant as attacks to dissuade others from speaking out.
But that’s not what the position is.
The position is pro-woman. Or, put another way, the position is pro-fairness, pro-safety and pro-reality.
It’s not about banning transgender-identifying athletes from sports. It’s about keeping males out of female categories because female categories exist for a reason.
But notice how the language always gets flipped.
Want to protect women’s sports?
You're anti-trans.
Want to support Christian athletes expressing their faith?
You're anti-LGBTQ.
See how that works?
DAN DAKICH RIPS MLB FOR WARNING GIANTS PLAYERS WHO WROTE BIBLE VERSES ON THEIR PRIDE HATS: 'SHUT UP'
The left doesn’t have to win the argument if it gets to define the terms before the argument even starts. That's important because they know they can't win the argument with things like facts, logic, or reasoning. So they resort to name-calling and ad hominem attacks.
Thompson quietly exposed that for everyone to see. He identified one of the central tactics of modern left-wing cultural politics: take a positive belief, reframe it as hatred, then apply pressure for the athlete to apologize and backtrack.
Roupp didn’t write "I hate gay people" on his hat.
He wrote a Bible verse.
That’s a pretty important distinction.
In a sports culture where leagues, teams and media members constantly preach inclusion, it’s ironic how often that inclusion seems to stop the second a Christian athlete expresses a view that doesn’t fit neatly inside the approved progressive box.
That's the message from every progressive activist: "We believe everyone has a right to be themselves and express themselves as they choose. But not you Christians. No, you need to shut up and dribble."
Landen Roupp was not being anti-anyone. He was expressing what the rainbow means to him as a Christian.
Ryan Thompson understood that.
The question is why so many other people are pretending not to.
Actually, we know exactly why they are ignoring his point.
It ruins their narrative. And nothing matters more to left-wingers than narrative control.
Dan Zaksheske is a reporter at OutKick.
