Over the past several weeks, the Catholic League blanketed Los Angeles notables asking them to spread the word to their constituents not to attend the “Pride Night” game on June 16 that was slated to honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a viciously anti-Catholic group of drag queens. We also took out 50 radio ads on KABC making the same request.
I am happy to say that our effort paid off. There was almost no one in the stands when the “Sisters” received their award. And the few who were there booed. This is a sweet victory.
In terms of attendance at the game, we won on that score as well. There have been four Friday night home games since mid-April, and the average attendance was 50,592. At last year’s “Pride Night” game at Dodger Stadium, 52,505 fans showed up. But at last night’s “Pride Night” game, the attendance was 49,074.
We conducted a mass mailing to over 300 Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. We also contacted Catholic schools and universities; residences of priests and brothers; endowments, foundations and trusts; retreat houses; hospitals and healthcare systems; seminaries; convents and residences for women; Hispanic leaders; and leaders in non-Catholic religions.
As we said in our KABC radio ad, “We are not asking Catholics to boycott all games. Just this one. By doing so, we will send an unmistakable message that bigotry against Catholics should not be tolerated.”
If there is one takeaway from our campaign that should not be lost on Catholics it is that tactics matter. The idea of boycotting all Dodgers games was never a credible goal.
What happened on June 16 is a cultural marker. Just like Bud Light, Target and other establishment organizations that have laid anchor with extremists, the Dodgers—and Major League Baseball in general—found out that the elites do not have the last word. The people do. In the end, indecency and bigotry were defeated.
