Tampa Bay Rays Players Refuse To Wear Uniforms With LGBT Logos Because They 'Believe In Jesus'

Several players on the Florida baseball team have declined to wear uniforms that honor Pride Month this June.

June is Pride Month, which celebrates the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, a monumental moment for the Gay Rights Movement in the U.S. Every year, brands and communities add a rainbow insigna to products or wave the rainbow flag in support of members of the LGBT community. However this year, some Tampa Bay Rays players have declined to participate in the Pride Month festivities by declining not to wear uniforms with LGBT logos because it does not align with their religious beliefs.

According to CBN News, several Tampa Bay Rays players have decided not to wear the rainbow-colored logos on their baseball uniforms as part of the team's annual LGBTQ "Pride Night" on Saturday. While team officials wanted full support from the Tampa Bay Rays players, they were given a choice to "opt-in" and wear a rainbow-colored logo on their ball caps and a sunburst on the right sleeve of their baseball game jerseys. While more than half of the team players participated, some opted out because they "believe in Jesus."

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Five Tampa Bay Rays Players Declined to Wear LGBT Insignia Because of Their Religious Beliefs

The Florida team pitchers Jason Adam, Jalen Beeks, Brooks Raley, Jeffrey Springs, and Ryan Thompson opted out of wearing the LGBT logos on their uniforms and instead wore their regular home game jerseys and cap because of their faith. Adam, who was chosen by team officials to speak out on the matter, told The Tampa Bay Times that it was a "faith-based decision."

Adams explained that it was a "hard decision" to make but that the five Tampa Bay Rays players wanted everyone to know that "all are welcome and loved here." But wearing the LGBT logos was simply something they could not do because it was a "lifestyle" that they "don't want to encourage" because they "believe in Jesus."

Adams further explained that Jesus "encouraged us to live a lifestyle that would abstain from that behavior, just like [He] encourages me as a heterosexual male to abstain from sex outside of the confines of marriage. It's no different."

NBC News reported that Thompson also came to the defense of the Tampa Bay Rays players who refused to wear uniforms with LGBT logos because of their faith. He explained that the team is "completely unified" in their "love for the LGBTQ+ community" and that he casts "no judgment" and "no condemnation," but is being "called to share [his] faith."

Matt LaBarge, a Florida resident and self-proclaimed "avid Rays fan" lamented to NPR that the team's choice to opt out of wearing uniforms with LGBT logos was a "distraction" from "gay pride" and instead focused on the team. This year's Tampa Bay Rays pride celebration, which took place on Saturday, was its 16th annual Pride Night.