Drag Queen invited to Baltimore Orioles Pride Night takes a shot at the Trump Administration
The Orioles, like too many teams in Major League Baseball, go all out for Pride Night.
They spelled out "PRIDE" on the iconic brick wall of Baltimore & Ohio Warehouse at Camden Yards, best known for featuring Cal Ripken Jr.’s record breaking consecutive games played streak. They painted the Orioles "O" logo in progressive Pride rainbow colors behind home plate. Even furries made an appearance at the ballpark on Friday night as they took on the Washington Nationals.
Arguably the most controversial decision was inviting a drag queen, Heidi N Closet, a drag queen from Season 12 of "RuPaul's Drag Race," to be the celebrity splasher at the most child- and family-friendly section of the ballpark, The Bird Bath. What he had to say about the Trump administration made this even worse, though.
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While speaking with Baltimore Banner Sports, Closet took a shot at some of the Trump administration's policy decisions and statements regarding the LGBTQ community. While responding to the question of, "[Why is it] so important to host an LGBTQ+ Pride Night?," he said, "Especially during this administration, we’ve seen how so many things have been rolled back: DEI and so many different things. And we’ve seen companies step away from the queer community. It’s beautiful to see an organization like the Orioles say, "No, we’re going to continue standing with them," even when it was so easy to turn your back."
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON'T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
Imagine thinking that keeping men out of women's sports, and fighting to stop employers from hiring based on race or sexual identity instead of merit, is bad. Yikes.
The funny and ironic thing is that Major League Baseball has also rolled back DEI initiatives in response to the federal government crackdown. It has scaled back visible DEI branding and reviewed and modified some program language and structure.
As the Trump administration has argued for its actions regarding DEI, the policies protect equal opportunity and enforce existing civil rights laws through a "colorblind" approach.
As for protecting women’s sports, Trump signed an executive order in 2025 titled "Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports," which directs federal agencies to enforce Title IX by rightfully defining "sex" as biological sex, so men and boys are banned from competing in female sports. The White House has said, "In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports. This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports."
This is what happens when you are constantly in a victim mindset. You believe the world needs to revolve around you and your minority community of activists that fight for preferential treatment.
The Orioles have made a big mistake, in my opinion, promoting someone who is pushing for policies that are clearly anti-woman while being clearly politically divisive.