The Rainbow Isn’t Theirs to Take Back

PFLAG San Francisco responds to the Giants’ Pride Night protest and calls on the team to answer to the LGBTQ+ families it invited to the ballpark

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, June 22, 2026: On June 12, the San Francisco Giants held their annual Pride Night at Oracle Park. Three of their pitchers used it to protest the community the night was meant to celebrate. Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker, and Ryan Walker took the field in the team’s rainbow Pride cap after writing a Bible verse on it by hand, Genesis 9:12-16, a passage often used to argue that the rainbow belongs to God rather than to the LGBTQ+ community. A fourth pitcher declined to wear the Pride cap at all.

The gesture landed hard in a city that helped build the relationship between professional baseball and the LGBTQ+ community. In 1994, the Giants became the first professional sports team to host an HIV/AIDS awareness game. In 2021, they became the first MLB team to wear Pride colors on the field. For more than 30 years, the franchise has told LGBTQ+ fans they belong at the ballpark.

That history is exactly why this stung. No one required the players to wear the cap. They chose to put it on and write on it, on the single night set aside to welcome LGBTQ+ families. The verse had not appeared on their uniforms at any other game this season.

“Pride Night is one night a year when we ask our team to stand with our families. Three players used it to do the opposite,” said Robert Costic, President, PFLAG San Francisco. “This was not a quiet act of personal faith. It was a public message, on that cap, on that night, meant to be seen. The Giants owe their LGBTQ+ fans more than an apology that hopes we move on.”

Parents and allies at Rainbow Families Action, a group of families of transgender and nonbinary young people, have led the call for accountability. They have asked the Giants to meet with LGBTQ+ families and commit to substantive change rather than a statement that smooths the moment over. PFLAG San Francisco stands with them and is asking the broader community to add its voice.

The chapter is urging supporters to write to the Giants and tell the organization how the protest landed. For anyone who attended Pride Night and felt disrespected, PFLAG San Francisco has prepared a template that also covers filing a complaint or requesting a refund. The details and the template are available at pflagsf.org.

“You don’t have to be a baseball fan to have a stake in this,” said Robert Costic. “You just have to believe that when a team invites you in, it shouldn’t let its own players show you the door.”

Contact the SF Giants

If you attended that night and felt disrespected we encourage you ask for a refund. We’re providing an email template below that you can use. This came from a user on Reddit.

To:
customerservice@sfgiants.com

CC:
tixoffice@sfgiants.com
customerservice@mlb.com
MLBDOI@mlb.com
hrc.info@sfgov.org
DorseyStaff@sfgov.org
TransCitySF@sfgov.org

Suggested subject line:
Refund Request / Complaint — Giants Pride Night Conduct

Template language you can adapt:

To the San Francisco Giants and Major League Baseball,

I attended the San Francisco Giants Pride Night game on Friday, June 12, 2026, expecting an event where LGBTQ fans would be welcomed, respected, and celebrated. Instead, the night was undermined by the Giants players (Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker, and Ryan Walker) using the team’s Pride-themed uniforms to make a religious counter-message against the very community the event was supposed to honor.

Writing Bible verses on Pride caps during Pride Night was not neutral in that context. It read as a rejection of LGBTQ Pride, a symbolic attempt to replace the meaning of the rainbow, and a public rebuke of fans who were there to feel included.

The Giants and MLB promoted and profited from Pride Night. LGBTQ fans should not be used as a marketing demographic, charged admission, and then made to watch uniformed players undermine the purpose of the event.

I am requesting [a refund / a public response / corrective action] and an explanation of what will be done to ensure future Pride Nights are not used as opportunities to demean, undermine, or protest LGBTQ fans under the cover of “personal expression.”

Pride Night should mean something. It should not be a marketing night where LGBTQ fans are invited in, charged admission, and then made to feel unwelcome.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]

Add your ticket details if asking for a refund: date, section, row, seat, order number, and ticket codes if you have them.

You can also call VP of customer relations Ashley Connor at 415-972-2000 ext. 2181

Or VP of guest relations Alexis Lustbader at 415-972-2000 ext. 1603.