The Los Angeles Dodgers have apologized and extended a new invitation to a drag group after earlier disinviting them from the team's upcoming Pride Night at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers had initially intended to honor the Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a drag group that leads charity and activism efforts in the city, with a Community Hero Award at their Pride event on June 16. But after a wave of conservative backlash against the drag group's use of Catholic imagery and other religious garb, the team removed the Sisters from their list of honorees last week.
The decision to rescind the invitation prompted another round of criticism -- this time from LGBTQ advocates, fans and allies who expressed disappointment that the team had acquiesced to pressure from anti-LGBTQ critics.
On Monday, the Dodgers reversed course again, announcing in a statement that they will include the Sisters, after all.
"After much thoughtful feedback from our diverse communities, honest conversations within the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and generous discussions with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Los Angeles Dodgers would like to offer our sincerest apologies to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, members of the LGBTQ+ community and their friends and families," the MLB team said.
The drag group confirmed that they will accept the Community Hero Award.
On Monday, two board members of the organization met with Dodgers President and CEO Stan Kasten as well as heads of Los Angeles LGBTQ community organizations and local government officials, where a "full apology and explanation was given to us by the Dodgers staff which we accept," the Sisters said in a statement.
The Sisters said they believe the apology is sincere. "In the future, if similar pressures from outside our community arise, our two organizations will consult and assist each other in responding" alongside other LGBTQ community members, the group's statement said.
Among those who balked at the Sisters' recognition were Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio and Bill Donahue, the president of the Catholic League, an organization that says it protects religious and civil rights.
Donahue in a statement called the Sisters an "obscene anti-Catholic group" and dismissed the Pride event as "rewarding hate speech."
The Sisters said the ordeal has been "an opportunity for learning with a silver lining."
"Our group has been strengthened, protected and uplifted to a position where we may now offer our message of hope and joy to far more people than before. With great love and respect, we thank each person and each organization that have spoken up for us," their statement said.
The Dodgers said they "will continue to work with our LGBTQ+ partners to better educate ourselves, find ways to strengthen the ties that bind and use our platform to support all of our fans who make up the diversity of the Dodgers family."