Letters to the Editor: The Dodgers disgrace their own history by removing Sisters from Pride Night

To the editor: The decision by the Dodgers organization to remove the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence from its Pride Night celebration goes against everything the team has stood for since it signed Jackie Robinson in 1947. How could the Dodgers change their program in response to complaints from people who are against what Pride Night is all about?

I am 74 years old and have been going to Dodger games since the team moved to L.A. I have been a quarterly season-ticket holder for five years. I have always felt so much pride in being a Dodger fan because of what this organization has stood for all these years.

How could it now tarnish this reputation by listening to these people? Where would our country be if Branch Rickey had listened to the haters?

I say to the Dodgers: Don't listen to the haters. Be the organization you have always been. Do the right thing.

Debby Jeter, Dana Point

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To the editor: So the Dodgers cancel the inclusion in its Pride Night of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — a charity that uses humor to fight intolerance — because some conservative Catholics "object" to the group?

Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, was "offended" by the lighthearted antics of a group that champions inclusion?

Well, I am mightily offended by the Catholic Church's propensity to hide priests who sexually abuse children. Catholic dioceses in California have paid more than $1.2 billion in settlements to avert sexual abuse lawsuits in recent years.

Why does a part of the church have any say in our baseball team’s activities?

Melonie Magruder, North Hollywood

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To the editor: As a Catholic, I am saddened by the controversy involving the Dodgers and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

No Catholic will tell you that the church has always been kind to LGBTQ+ people. Dressing as nuns in habits, to me, is a way of using humor to cope with the pain of rejection by the Catholic Church and other Christian denominations. We should have been kind to our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters.

However, mocking nuns, Jesus and Our Lady is also a form of bigotry — toward Catholics. Would the Dodgers honor a group that ridiculed Judaism, Islam or any other faith? That took sacred clothing and other holy articles and treated them with disrespect? I hope not.

Sisters in various orders, real nuns, have dedicated their lives to serving others in schools, hospitals and elsewhere. They help the elderly, the poor, migrants and others who are ignored or marginalized.

I'd like to think that amid all this noise, someone in the Dodgers organization thought about them. They don't deserve to be ridiculed.

Karen Muehlberger, Green Valley, Calif.

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To the editor: Burch's hysterical "no other religion would be treated this way" statement suggests that he has either a very short or very selective memory, or maybe he's just a propagandist.

Someone should remind him that it was a satire of Islam that led to the 2015 mass killing at the Charlie Hebdo magazine office in Paris. People died there for their right of free expression.

Burch's over-wrought, ignorant reaction, made in the name of his religion, could lead to violence. In this case, it would be against the LGBTQ+ minority that is already regularly targeted with hate crimes.

Thomas Bailey, Long Beach

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To the editor: Perhaps the Dodgers should move to Florida, where the governor will welcome them with open arms and a smug smile. I understand that there's some land available in Orlando.

Ken Shields, Los Angeles

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.