Baseball, LGBTQ+ and Japan

TOKYO — The LGBTQ+ community is a growing social-political force in the United States. The U.S. government is promoting legislation to grant more civil rights for the gay and lesbian and trans communities, and every year in June, national PRIDE month in the USA celebrates the Gay and Trans community, setting an example for Americans to be more tolerant. This year U.S. President Joe Biden hosted a massive event for the LDGQ+ Community on the White House lawn. This was significant in that Biden once voted against same-sex marriage as a U.S. Senator.

As discussed in a previous column, MLB officials have also pushed teams to display PRIDE flags in support of the gay community during this time and urged players to wear ‘pride’ logos on their uniforms. MLB players are by and large conservative, and not everyone was willing to go along with this, including two MLB pitchers who were released for anti-LGBTQ+ remarks.