Gay California Rep. Robert Garcia Calls for Boycott of L.A. Dodgers Pride Night

U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, a Democrat from California, has called for a boycott of the Los Angeles Dodgers’s Pride Night after the team rescinded a community award to a nonprofit LGBTQ+ group.

In a statement posted on social media on Wednesday, the Dodgers said that while they are proud to celebrate their 10^th Pride Night on June 16, they would be removing the group the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence from the honorees.

Garcia, who previously served as the mayor of Long Beach, Calif., near L.A., called out the decision.

“At a time when the Dodgers should be embracing the strength of our diversity, they are instead trying to divide our LGBTQ+ community,” the out lawmaker said in a statement provided to The Advocate. “Los Angeles is better than this cowardice and deserves better from the Dodgers. Our community should boycott this ‘pride night’ and protest this decision. We’ll see if they choose to be on the right side of history.”

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, which features drag performers in saintly or nun-like attire, began in 1979 in San Francisco and centers on philanthropy and community service. They also promote "human rights, respect for diversity, and spiritual enlightenment. We use humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency, and guilt that chain the human spirit."

Conservatives, including Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, had criticized the inclusion of the sisters at Pride Night before the Dodgers made the announcement.

Rubio called the sisters an “anti-Catholic group of activist drag queen performers” and “who mock the faith with the motto ‘Go forth and sin some more!’

In a statement, the group said they were disappointed in the Dodgers’ decision and said the team bowed to pressure from outside of California.

"We are both silly and serious. We use our flamboyance in service to our charity work and our message, which is, 'There is room in our world for each person to be who they are, as they are, free from shame or guilt, and alive in joy and love for their own self,'" the sisters wrote. "While we may no longer appear on Dodgers Pride Night we will be out on the streets of Los Angeles continuing to serve and uplift our community."

They added, "If being true to oneself with love, joy, and pride is a sin, then we, having been canceled by the New York Post, and now the Dodgers, will do what we always do. We will out and sin some more."