ARLINGTON, Texas – Rafael McDonnell sometimes speaks to his beloved Texas Rangers team about diversity and inclusion issues through his role at the Resource Center, one of the leading LGBTQ+ organizations in the Dallas area.
For several years, the Rangers were the only team in Major League Baseball without a Pride Night. When asked about this, Texas cited his work with the Resource Center, among other organizations.
As Pride Month – the June celebration of LGBTQ+ culture and rights – comes and goes again without the Rangers’ participation, McDonnell tried to explain the connection between his group and the team he loved and watched for almost 50 years.
“It’s a complicated relationship,” McDonnell said. “As someone who grew up watching the Rangers, as someone who has been going to games since the 1970s, some of my biggest and best memories are going to games at the old Arlington Stadium with my late grandfather and listening to the games on the radio in his backyard.
“It pains me that this continues to be a problem (after) all these years.”
It was painful enough, said McDonnell, who considered not attending the parade with her boyfriend when the Rangers celebrated their first World Series championship last fall. Ultimately, he decided to go.
McDonnell, communications and advocacy manager for the Resource Center, says the Rangers invited his group to help them develop an inclusion policy about five years ago.
The team sent employees to volunteer for programs at an organization that grew out of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and advocates for marriage equality and transgender rights.
Although he continues to talk to members of the Rangers staff, McDonnell says he doesn’t remember any since their five-game victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in last year’s Fall Classic.
“For a long time, I thought it might be someone high up in the organization who was opposed to this for some reason that’s not clearly articulated,” McDonnell said. “To say the Rangers aren’t doing anything for the community, well, they did. But the hill they’re choosing on isn’t Pride Night.”
Several years ago, MLB diversity officer Billy Bean, who came out as gay after a six-year playing career, said he believed a Pride Night would eventually come to Globe Life Field, the Rangers’ retractable-roof home that will host the All-Star Game. MLB had no comment when asked last week about the status of the Rangers’ Pride Night.
McDonnell and DeeJay Johannessen — chief executive of the HELP Center, an LGBTQ+ organization based in Tarrant County, where the Rangers play — also say they believe the Rangers will someday join the rest of MLB with a Pride Night.
At the same time, McDonnell and Johannessen say the catalyst for change may have to be new ownership. Johannessen said he did not ask to speak to majority owner Ray C. Davis to discuss Pride.
“I didn’t because, honestly, it’s just not going to happen,” Johannessen said. “I would love to meet with Mr. Davis and talk about why this is important. But I don’t think that’s on your priority list right now.”
Through a spokesman, the Rangers declined an Associated Press request to interview Davis.
The team issued a similar statement to the one a year ago, listing several organizations it has sponsored and steps it has taken internally to “create a welcoming, inclusive and supportive environment for fans and employees.”
“Our long-standing commitment remains the same: to make everyone feel welcome and included in Rangers baseball – in our stadium, at every game and in everything we do – for both our fans and our employees.” , said the team. “We deliver on that promise across our many programs to have a positive impact throughout our community.”
The Rangers’ stance doesn’t stop Misty Lockhart, who lives near the stadium, from attending about 35 games a year. Also a big fan of the Dallas Stars, she attended the NHL team’s Pride Night in March at the American Airlines Center in downtown Dallas.
Lockhart was wearing a No. 91 Tyler Seguin Pride jersey that had been worn during warmups the previous year and was signed by the Stars forward. The Stars logo on the front was in rainbow colors.
While she doesn’t believe the Rangers are in danger of losing fans because of their position in the Pride, Lockhart would prefer the Rangers complete the MLB picture in something believed to have started with the Chicago Cubs in 2001.
“I think if it was something where MLB said, ‘We’re not participating in this,’ but MLB participates. And the Rangers chose not to,” Lockhart said. “I think that’s where I take the bigger issue: They actively chose not to participate in this.”
Lockhart says he doesn’t view Pride Night as a political issue, but acknowledges there would be more pressure on the Rangers if they had a stadium in central Dallas County, where the majority of elected officials are Democrats. Tarrant County, where Arlington and Fort Worth are located, is generally more chatty.
Will Davis — a Rangers fan from Marble Falls, about 200 miles southwest of the stadium in central Texas — sees it as a political issue. He attended a recent game of his son’s youth baseball team.
“I think it’s a private organization. And if they don’t want to, I don’t think they should be forced into it,” Davis said. “In something like this, this is a path for people to follow as a state. We don’t want the political issue to be shoved down our throats, in one way or another, on the left or the right. We came here to have fun with friends or family and leave it as is.”
The Rangers celebrate Mexican heritage during a game in June and also have nights throughout the season dedicated to other ethnic groups, along with Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts, first responders, teachers and military personnel. The team recognizes universities from across the Dallas-Fort Worth area and the state.
Such celebrations make the absence more conspicuous, Johannessen said.
“I think the question here is not whether they are losing every game or whether they are World Series champions,” he said. “It’s a question of whether or not having a Pride Night is something that Rangers ownership supports.
“There may be deeply held beliefs about why they don’t want to do it,” Johannessen said. “And we really respect that, but we also have to defend our community. Because it’s kind of embarrassing for the city of Arlington that your team is the only one that doesn’t have a Pride Night.”
The Rangers raised eyebrows when the slogan on their website’s home page changed from “Run it Back” to “Straight Up Texas” around June 1. The team has used the “Straight Up Texas” slogan in previous years and said the change had nothing to do with Pride Month.
Still, the attention the move received on social media illustrated the scrutiny the Rangers invited as the only MLB team without a Pride Night.
“The Texas Rangers reached out to us to work with us and provide services and volunteers,” said Johannessen, whose organization has provided health services, among other things, to the LGBTQ+ community for 30 years. “That actually hasn’t happened yet. When they asked what they could do, the first thing I said was, ‘Let’s talk about a Pride Night.'”
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