The Department of Justice’s Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Harmeet Dhillon, fired off a furious letter full of threats in the wake of the MLB (Major League Baseball) discriminating in a major way against Christians by threatening to punish three pitchers, and a number of other players, for the San Francisco Giants by writing Bible verses on the “Pride Night” baseball caps they were made to wear.
As background, this season’s “Pride Month” celebrations have seen players revolt against the Pride spectacle. Player Sam Hentges, for example, refused to wear the Pride cap at all, simply appearing in the traditional cap the Giants wear. A number of others, such as starting pitcher Landen Roupp, as well as relievers Ryan Walker and J.T. Brubaker, wrote Genesis 9:12-16 on their hats. The verse is the tale of God creating the rainbow.
Commenting on his faith and his putting it on his hat after the game, Mr. Roupp said, “That’s just kind of something I believe in, and I stand firm in that. And I’m thankful we live in a country where, you know, we have the freedom to believe what we want…and express what we want.”
The MLB responded with fury, issuing warnings to the players and threatening to punish them for their Christian faith. “The writing on the cap violates our rules, and consistent with normal practice, we have warned the players about future violations,” said Pat Courtney, chief communications officer for the league, in a statement.
Assistant AG Dhillon decided to respond. Beginning with an indication on Tuesday that she was looking into action against the MLB over its clear anti-Christian bias, she said, “The USEEOC (US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) and state labor laws govern private employer disputes such as these. Time to lawyer up!”
Then, firing off a letter the next day in which she indicated that a federal crackdown is coming, she said, “The Civil Rights Act prohibits MLB and its franchises from unreasonably burdening the rights of players with religious objections to serving as the League’s vehicle for pro-Pride messages. Federal law is clear: employers must modify their uniform requirements to reasonably accommodate their employees’ exercise of religion.”
She added, commenting on the clear double standard, “MLB has asserted that its warning to the Giants players ‘had absolutely nothing to do with the content of the message’ and that it merely is enforcing a policy that prohibits writing on uniforms. Yet, MLB has allowed players to wear uniform patches reading ‘Black Lives Matter.'”
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She concluded that part of the letter by indicating what sort of counterattack she might make, saying, “This double standard—under which players may not inscribe Bible verses on hats for one game only but may wear ‘Black Lives Matter’ patches for one game only—calls MLB’s true motives into question and raises serious concerns about MLB’s compliance with Title VII. Employers may not use facially neutral policies as ‘a pretext for discrimination.'”
Watch Rob Schneider vow to help the players here: