Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who heads up the Civil Rights Division of President Donald Trump’s Justice Department, waded into the ongoing Major League Baseball (MLB) cap controversy, stoking outrage over the league’s reaction to a San Francisco Giants player displaying a Bible verse on his Pride Night ballcap.
“It is illegal to treat employees differently” on the basis of “protected characteristics, and religion is one of those protected characteristics under our federal laws,” Dhillon said in an appearance on the right-wing Newsmax outlet, encouraging unnamed plaintiffs to pursue legal action through private litigation or through her “friend,” Andrea Jacobs, the head of Trump’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Related
It was unclear who would be suing, as neither the Giants nor MLB have issued any sanctions against the San Francisco team’s starting pitcher, Laden Roupp nor against the other two players who added Bible verses to their caps that night. MLB did give them a warning, saying that regulations prohibit any “alterations, writing, or illustrations” on league uniforms.
The players wore the altered hats last Friday night at the Giants’ Pride celebration at Oracle Park. Roupp’s bore the words “Gen 9:11-16” next to his cap’s rainbow-colored Giants team logo.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
The verse follows God’s promise to never again flood the world for its sinful ways, adding, “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the Earth.”
Following a bad outing on the mound — the Giants gave up five runs to the Chicago Cubs and lost by four — Roupp was unfazed over the controversy his hat inspired.
“There’s no hate at all. It’s just what I stand for and what I stand in. I believe in God, and that’s me,” he said.
“We live in a country where you’re welcome to believe what you want,” Roupp added. “There’s a freedom of speech and stuff like that, so that’s really all I have to say about that. I’m just thankful that God has put me in this situation and that I can go out and share his kingdom.”
It was left to Giants management to acknowledge that the alterations were inappropriate.
In a statement, the team said, “We understand that the choices by individual players have caused pain and anger to many in the LGBTQ+ community, and we are sorry for that.”
In her Newsmax appearance, Assistant AG Dhillon said the MLB holds players like Roupp and the others to a different standard.
“They’re treating people of faith and their faith-based messages on their hats differently than, say, employees who want to have pins that are LGBTQ or other types of messaging on their hats, and they tolerate that,” Dhillon claimed.
“In other words, if they’re applying that uniform policy in a discriminatory manner, that definitely could be the basis of an employment discrimination claim by a private lawyer or by the EEOC,” she added.
Dhillon’s stoking followed Vice President JD Vance doing the same two days before, when he responded to MLB’s warning with a cryptic post intended for his audience of one: “Trump won we don’t have to do this anymore.”
Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.