From USA Today:
With a heavy police and security presence along the first level of seating, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were honored with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ community hero award on the team’s Pride Night.
The honor took place more than an hour before first pitch. Dodger Stadium was relatively empty when the civil rights activists took the field. But those in the seats gave the Sisters loud cheers and applause when they were announced.
“The Dodgers community hero award goes to an organization reaching the LGBTQ+ community, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, LA chapter,” stadium announcer Todd Leitz said. “Please join us in recognizing the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for their outstanding service to the LGBTQ+ community.”
Sister Unity, who donned a blue outfit with red ribbons to represent the group’s service in fighting HIV/AIDS, was with Sister Dominia on the field to accept the honor from the Dodgers. Sister Unity said they thought the ceremony would take place “when the stadium was already full,” but expected cheers and boos regardless. Instead, it was only cheers.
“I did not hear a single boo, and I was delighted to hear so much of our community cheering,” Sister Unity told USA TODAY Sports at Dodger Stadium. “That always flipped the on switch for me. I responded very happily with what we’ve always done, which is to wave and be fun and goofy, and make people feel good about who they are.”
The Catholic League’s Bill Donohue, however, had a different take:
Over the past several weeks, the Catholic League blanketed Los Angeles notables asking them to spread the word to their constituents not to attend the “Pride Night” game on June 16 that was slated to honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a viciously anti-Catholic group of drag queens. We also took out 50 radio ads on KABC making the same request.
I am happy to say that our effort paid off. There was almost no one in the stands when the “Sisters” received their award. And the few who were there booed. This is a sweet victory.
In terms of attendance at the game, we won on that score as well. There have been four Friday night home games since mid-April, and the average attendance was 50,592. At last year’s “Pride Night” game at Dodger Stadium, 52,505 fans showed up. But at last night’s “Pride Night” game, the attendance was 49,074.
We conducted a mass mailing to over 300 Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. We also contacted Catholic schools and universities; residences of priests and brothers; endowments, foundations and trusts; retreat houses; hospitals and healthcare systems; seminaries; convents and residences for women; Hispanic leaders; and leaders in non-Catholic religions.
As we said in our KABC radio ad, “We are not asking Catholics to boycott all games. Just this one. By doing so, we will send an unmistakable message that bigotry against Catholics should not be tolerated.”
And there were protestors. See the video below.
