June hadn’t yet arrived when a new pitched battle royal broke out on the transgender front of the culture war.

Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers recently decided to honor a blasphemous anti-Catholic LGBTQ+ drag group for the annual “Community Hero Award.” The ridiculously named Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence go around defiling, demeaning, and debasing Christianity. They tricked the archbishop of San Francisco into giving them the Eucharist, then proceeded to defile it. At Easter this year, they put on a drag-show mockery of the crucifixion (warning: graphic) and crowned the “sexiest” Jesus with a crown of thorns.

How are they worthy of a “community hero” award? That is never explained, but this group’s inclusion in the Pride Night event prompted some MLB players to speak out in protest.

Enter the first protester, Trevor Williams of the Washington Nationals. Williams wrote a very articulate condemnation of the Dodgers’ actions. He explained that the ballpark should be a place where everyone feels welcome. He emphasized that he is a Catholic (as are a significant number of LA residents) and The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are blatantly insulting toward his faith. “Creating an environment in which one group feels celebrated and honored at the expense of another is counterproductive and wrong,” he wrote.

Williams also astutely argues that this decision to honor the hate group is against the Dodgers’ own discrimination policy. The policy states that anything “obscene, profane, vulgar, indecent, violent, threatening, abusive, prejudiced against any individual or group (e.g., because of their race, religion, or sexual orientation)” is prohibited from the ballpark. The policy doesn’t stop there, either. If the content listed above is even suggested in attire or conduct, it is banned. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence violate every item on the prohibited conduct list, and yet the Dodgers made an exception.

It is outrageous, to say the least.

The Dodgers’ own Clayton Kershaw and Blake Treinen have also spoken out. They are the classic example of the lion and lamb approach to this dilemma.

Treinen represents the lion. He penned a letter of outright protest for his organization supporting the sacrilegious Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. He wrote that he understood playing baseball is a privilege, not a right, but his faith and defending it are more important than his job. Treinen ends his letter with, “I want to make it clear that I do not agree with [or] support the decision of the Dodger’s [sic] to ‘honor’ the Sister’s [sic] of Perpetual Indulgence.”

Kershaw is much more sedate in his condemnation. His is more the lamb approach. He makes it clear that he loves people of all creeds and clearly stated that they are welcome in the Dodgers’ stadium. He is, however, concerned that the Dodgers are endorsing the Sisters by honoring them. Kershaw said: “I don’t agree with making fun of other people’s religions. It has nothing to do with anything other than that. I just don’t think that, no matter what religion you are, you should make fun of somebody else’s religion. So, that’s something that I definitely don’t agree with.” Kershaw also stated that the Dodgers are hosting a Christian Faith and Family Day to demonstrate what Christians are for.

Home runs for all three brave pitchers. Standing up against this blatant disrespect for Christianity in general, Catholicism in particular, and the family-friendly safe havens that sports should be is countercultural in such a refreshing way.

Enter Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass, who has the misfortune of being with an organization that is based in Canada. Bass committed the error of endorsing a post on his Instagram page that was in support of the Anheuser-Busch and Target boycotts (oh, the horror). Bass was compelled to apologize by the Blue Jays organization. Here was his statement:

I recognize … that I made a post that was hurtful to the Pride community, which includes friends of mine and close family members of mine, and I am truly sorry for that. I just spoke with my teammates and shared with them my actions yesterday.

I apologized [to] them and, as of right now, I am using the Blue Jays’ resources to better educate myself to make better decisions moving forward. The ballpark is for everybody. We include all fans at the ballpark and we want to welcome everybody.

Many public comments on the apology declared that it felt like a hostage tape. It “has all the earmarks of a contemporary struggle session,” The Federalist’s David Harsanyi said. “First, the confession for wrongthink. … Then the apology and promise of reform.”

Bass struck out in more ways than one. By apologizing, he capitulated his right to his own opinion, and no apology will ever be enough for the Rainbow Mafia. We have seen it over and over again.

Frankly, it is a crying shame that our sports heroes and favorite teams feel the need to weigh in to politics at all. It is a particularly poignant betrayal on the LA Dodgers’ part to invite an actual hate group to be honored. To quote Blake Treinen again: “People like baseball for its entertainment value and competition. The fans do not want propaganda or politics forced on them. The debacle with Bud Light and Target should be a warning to companies and professional sports to stay true to their brand and leave the propaganda and politics off the field.”

This is the ideal that most sports fans would like their teams to go back to before it’s too late.