Today, the St. Louis Cardinals have announced that they will finally host their first ever LGBTQ Pride Night at Busch Stadium on August 25th, 2017, against the Tampa Bay Rays. This special night will be held about a month after the franchise’s annual Christian Day event, and this year’s featured speaker for that is none other than former Cardinal and Astros 1B/OF and transphobic dunce Lance Berkman.
ST. LOUIS - Ahead of Pride Weekend in St. Louis, the Cardinals along with Pride St. Louis announced they will be hosting the first ‘Pride Night’ at Busch Stadium on August 25
Fans can purchase a special theme ticket and receive a Cardinals hat with a rainbow STL logo. A portion of each ticket sold will benefit the PrideSTL Scholarship, which is awarded annually to St. Louis area students.
“We are excited to partner with Pride St. Louis to host Pride Night at Busch Stadium,” said William DeWitt III, President of the Cardinals. “We have hosted many LGBT groups at Busch Stadium over the years, but this is a bigger effort which will remind fans that everyone is welcome at Busch Stadium. The event will also raise money to help courageous students in our community.”
Elizabeth Semko at Riverfront Times:
Earlier this month, plans for a Pride Night at Busch Stadium were not so solid. A team official had previously told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the team was "actively planning" its first Pride Night. At the time, the Post-Dispatch reported that the event could possibly happen this season, but if not, it would be scheduled no later than 2018.
Meanwhile, former Cardinals player and anti-LGBT speaker Lance Berkman was already set to speak at the Cardinals' 27th annual Christian Day. As noted by the pro-LGBT sports website outsports.com, Berkman has been outspoken in his stance against the LGBT community and actively campaigned against Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance. This of course raised concern among some fans, prompting the Cardinals to announce on June 12 that while Berkman will remain on the schedule for Christian Day, the team will in fact set Pride Night for 2017. The Cardinals' entire statement was originally published on KSDK.
Announcement, via the Cardinals’ Twitter:
Cardinals’ Facebook Page:
I am personally glad that the Cardinals will FINALLY have a Pride Night, and that’s surely going to piss off some hard-core homophobic snowflakes, as evidenced in the comments and replies in articles and social media accounts of this team and the news sources that have written about it. Conversely, it has also gotten some praise as well on social media and in the comment sections.
Anyways, let’s go Cardinals!!!!