The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is intervening on behalf of three San Francisco Giants players to whom Major League Baseball (MLB) officials issued a warning about writing Bible verses on their gay pride-themed uniforms.
Citing media reports about the controversy, the DOJ Civil Rights Division said in a letter to MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred, Jr. that the matter is referred to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for further investigation.
“The Trump administration is committed to combating religious discrimination,” the letter states. “The Department of Justice will use all available means to hold employers accountable for violating the religious rights of their employees.”
Title VII makes it unlawful for employers to discriminate against individuals in any aspect of employment based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.
The DOJ issued the rebuke in response to the MLB team requiring players to wear rainbow-themed Pride Night caps during a June 12 game against the Chicago Cubs.
Giants players Landen Roupp, J.T. Brubaker, and Ryan Walker scrawled Gen 9:12-16 on their hats. Gen 9:12-16 is a reference to the Bible’s Noah’s Ark rainbow covenant.
The DOJ letter was signed by the federal agency's assistant attorney general Harmeet Dhillon, who immigrated to the United States from India as a child and was raised in the Sikh faith.
Sikhism is similar to Christianity in that its followers believe in one God.
The players were warned but will not be fined, suspended or face any other cost, according to MLB officials.
“Writing of any kind, with any message, is prohibited per Major League Baseball’s Uniform Regulations which provides in part that, ‘(a) Player may not write, attach, affix, embroider or otherwise display nicknames or messages on apparel or playing equipment,” the MLB said in a statement.
Dhillon further reminded Manfred that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against any individual with respect to his compensation terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of their religion.
“The Civil Rights Act prohibits MLB and its franchises from unreasonably burdening the rights of players with religious objections to serving as the League vehicle for pro-Pride messages,” Dhillon wrote.
Last week, former National Football League (NFL) captain Jack Brewer, current Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Ryan Thompson, and former MLB pitcher Roger Clemens defended the players, with Clemens suggesting that the MLB should have taken a vote among the players about wearing the hat and Brewer urging a class action lawsuit.
"You're forcing a Christian to support June pride month," Brewer, former team captain for the Vikings, Giants, and Eagles, said. "There's no bigger violation to Christianity and Christ ... to put them in a compromised situation where they've got to go out there and market to millions of people something that is going directly against their religion. To force them to do that, and to threaten them, to fine them ... it should be criminal."