Bible-quoting Giants pitchers don't read the room

Over the weekend we went to lunch with a friend. He’s 40-ish, gay, married and head of communications for a high-powered firm.

We asked if he’d heard about the Giants’ pitchers protest on Pride Night. Four of them, starter Landon Roupp and relievers JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker inked Bible verses on their Pride hats. Reliever Sam Hentges went a step further, refusing to wear the hat.

Our friend hadn’t heard. Not a sports fan. But when we told him, he was instantly engaged.

I kinda thought we’d spend some time shaking our heads at the bigoted jerks. Or maybe some moral outrage along the lines of “can you believe this happening in this day and age?”

Nope. He went right to his corporate lens.

“What a PR disaster!” he said immediately. “That cannot happen.”

Which really is the point and the problem here. There are several ways the Giants organization could have handled this. We’ll mention a few.

But what they could not do is nothing.

Which was the course of action they chose.

They essentially gave it a shrug and a whatayagonnado?

They issued a statement that said in part: “We understand that the choices by individual players have caused pain and anger to many in the LGBTQ+ community and we are sorry for that.”

Oh, possible pain and anger? In San Francisco? Ya think?

But don’t worry because then they added: “We remain grateful to our fans, partners, employees, players, and coaches who help make Pride Night a meaningful celebration.”

And that’s where we run into the first of a series of problems.

If the point of Pride Night is a show of unity and acceptance for LBGTQ people, it’s not really a “meaningful celebration” if some official members of the team go out of their way not to show unity and acceptance. Especially if they openly protest against those ideas.

Who said these four get to speak for the Giants? Or for the City?

And don’t tell me they are just speaking your minds. You guys are free to do that seven days a week and twice on Sunday. Go ahead. I’ll bet you’ve got some theories that would curl my hair.

But you’re not idly expressing some views. You are actively protesting a company sponsored event. The Giants asked you to wear a hat with a rainbow on it.

And you said, “Oh no, not a rainbow hat. That’s too much.”

See, it turns out the rainbow is doing a lot of extra work here. Because if you look up the verse they put on their hats, you get a reading that God sent (a rainbow) as “the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature.”

So see? It’s all about the rainbow.

Roupp, obviously knew he was going to be asked about this after the game and was ready.

He said the message was “God’s covenant and the promise that He makes to us. It’s something I believe in and I stand firm in that.”

You have to wonder how long this group — and it is a group — searched the Bible to find this perfect little mis-direction quote. Apparently the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw wrote it on his hat for last year’s Pride Night.

It’s clever because someone like Roupp can sound firm and resolute in defending “God’s covenant” without really explaining what that means.

He can even play the hey-don’t-get-me-wrong card:

“There’s no hate at all It’s just what I stand for . . . I believe in God.”

And we’re not supposed to notice that we just made a huge leap of logic there. Lots of people believe in God. Millions and millions. But there’s no requirement that if you believe you are required to disapprove of certain lifestyles.

The rainbow is just a handy standin. It was mentioned in Genesis, so apparently if any other people/organization/movement use it as a symbol, it is blasphemous.

C’mon. We all know that isn’t true.

Hentges came the closest to being honest. And unrepentant:

“It’s just something that I feel like I was forced to support when I don’t morally support it,” Hentges said. “There wasn’t hatred behind it. I think that’s kind of something that’s misinterpreted.”

Well, if it is not hatred you certainly went to a lot of trouble to make it a big deal. If you’d just put on the hat I doubt anyone would have asked a middle-inning relief pitcher what his opinion of Pride Day was. Or cared.

You made this a thing. Intentionally.

But let’s make this simple. We don’t have to debate rainbows or covenants. There’s an easy way to clear this up.

You know when Hentges says “I don’t morally support it?”

C’mon Sam. Speak up. Say it. What is IT?

Although you’ve made it perfectly clear, you just don’t want to come out and say it, do you? Because you know it would be unpopular. And out of step with the majority.

So let’s stop with the obscure Bible references. Come out and say it:

You dislike and disapprove of gay people. You think a gay lifestyle is aberrant. And you, and your fellow bigots in the clubhouse are trying to use religion to justify it.

At least that would be more honest. You wouldn’t have to twist yourself into a pretzel trying to explain how your personal freedom has been violated.

You’re perfectly free to express your out-of-touch opinions. Just don’t do it undermine a team/city/national event that promotes hope and joy just because you have an opinion.

And if I were the Giants, I would have made that clear to them. Team event. Team uniform. If you don’t like it, there are pressures that can be brought to bear. Not that you’ve helped your trade value by becoming New York Times news and dragging your team into it.

The Giants have a lot of problems now, not the least of which are on the field. This is the last thing the franchise needs. It wouldn’t be a complete surprise if, given the dismal season record on top of this tone-deaf pratfall, attendance might suffer.

So thanks a lot guys. Aside from announcing publicly that you are insensitive jerks, what do you think this accomplished?

Excluding people because of a Bible verse?

Nope.

It’s not God. It’s you.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@gmail.com. Twitter and Threads: @cwnevius