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For Erica Scherzer, supporting Nationals ‘Night Out’ event for LGBT fans is ‘no-brainer’
For Erica Scherzer, supporting Nationals ‘Night Out’ event for LGBT fans is ‘no-brainer’By Dan Steinberg June 11
How an openly gay baseball player would be received in a Major League clubhouse remains untested; it is, in any case, out of Erica Scherzer’s control.
Whether several thousand gay and lesbian baseball fans will feel welcomed in a Major League park is a much easier proposition. The Nationals have hosted a “Night Out” for LGBT fans 11 years in a row; next Wednesday’s event, like several of its predecessors, is expected to attract more than 3,000 fans. But while the total attendance won’t change, for the first time the spouses of Nats players -– led by Scherzer, wife of Max –- will be a formal part of the crowd.
....
She describes herself as an activist, feminist and “advocate for the nonprofit sector” on her Twitter page. Lending her support to the Night Out, she said, was a “no-brainer.” ... “I can’t wrap my head around it, I really can’t, how you could deny any rights to a person just because they might have a different love interest than you would have, or a different gender identity than you. I just can’t understand that,” Erica Scherzer said this week. “Our guys are on the field — they can’t come to the stands during the game — but we can by extension help show support for the cause.”
Scherzer’s involvement followed a blog post by Eireann Dolan, the girlfriend of A’s pitcher Sean Doolittle and the daughter of two gay moms. When Dolan saw that some A’s season-ticket holders were unhappy about the team’s first Pride Night, she offered to buy their seats and donate them to LGBT youth. Doolittle offered to match any tickets she purchased.
How an openly gay baseball player would be received in a Major League clubhouse remains untested; it is, in any case, out of Erica Scherzer’s control.
Whether several thousand gay and lesbian baseball fans will feel welcomed in a Major League park is a much easier proposition. The Nationals have hosted a “Night Out” for LGBT fans 11 years in a row; next Wednesday’s event, like several of its predecessors, is expected to attract more than 3,000 fans. But while the total attendance won’t change, for the first time the spouses of Nats players -– led by Scherzer, wife of Max –- will be a formal part of the crowd.
....
She describes herself as an activist, feminist and “advocate for the nonprofit sector” on her Twitter page. Lending her support to the Night Out, she said, was a “no-brainer.” ... “I can’t wrap my head around it, I really can’t, how you could deny any rights to a person just because they might have a different love interest than you would have, or a different gender identity than you. I just can’t understand that,” Erica Scherzer said this week. “Our guys are on the field — they can’t come to the stands during the game — but we can by extension help show support for the cause.”
Scherzer’s involvement followed a blog post by Eireann Dolan, the girlfriend of A’s pitcher Sean Doolittle and the daughter of two gay moms. When Dolan saw that some A’s season-ticket holders were unhappy about the team’s first Pride Night, she offered to buy their seats and donate them to LGBT youth. Doolittle offered to match any tickets she purchased.
