David Leatherwood, a board member for the nonprofit Gays Against Groomers and leader of the group's Florida chapter, told Newsmax on Monday that he's offended by the Los Angeles Dodgers honoring Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a drag performance group that mocks Christianity, with its Community Hero Award.
"As a gay man, I just have to say these people do not represent me, and it is horribly offensive," Leatherwood said on "American Agenda." "There's been several interviews that have gone viral with the Sisterhood of Perpetual Indulgence, and they say that they are satire, but that's gaslighting, pure and simple. This is blasphemous. It's offensive."
The Dodgers honored Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence as part of a Pride Night celebration before Friday's game against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium.
In early May, the Dodgers disinvited the group after facing pressure from Christian organizations and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. But it did an about-face after backlash from LGBTQ+ groups and elected leaders, apologized to the group on May 22, and reinvited it to the game.
"The Dodgers have betrayed their primary demographic in order to virtue signal to a minority of the minority," Leatherwood said. "[Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence] claims to represent trans and queer individuals, and as we know the LGBTQIA++ alphabet community represents a lot of different people, and we're seeing a lot of problems coming specifically from the TQ part of this community.
"As a gay man, it's not something that I identify with at all, and a lot of other gay and lesbian people feel the same way as I do."
Leatherwood said he was heartened to see the thousands of people, many from Christian and Catholic groups, outside Dodger Stadium protesting, while inside, few fans were in attendance at the time of the ceremony.
"It was quite an embarrassment that inside the stadium, when they were honoring these people, it was virtually empty," Leatherwood said. "Yet outside, there were thousands and thousands of Catholics that gathered together to pray, and it really was a beautiful thing to see."
Leatherwood said the Dodgers, much like Bud Light and Target, are catering to the trans and queer communities — which he called bullies — because if they do not, they are afraid of being labeled as homophobic or transphobic.
By doing so, though, they are opening themselves up to boycotts and protests from a larger portion of the population. Boycotts against Bud Light and Target have taken a significant financial toll. It remains to be seen if the Dodgers will suffer the same kind of financial fallout.
"I wonder when they're going to wake up and realize this is not the strategy to win," Leatherwood said.
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.