San Francisco Giants pitchers wrote Bible verses on their caps during a Pride Night game — and suddenly the same media outlets that spent years defending Colin Kaepernick’s right to kneel for the national anthem are calling the religious expression hateful.
Nearly ten years ago, Kaepernick kneeled for the anthem and the left’s corporate press rallied to his defense. The San Francisco Chronicle ran headlines declaring Kaepernick “absolutely has a constitutional right” to express his opinion. The New York Times published multiple pieces framing his protest as an exercise of First Amendment freedoms.
Then-President Obama told reporters Kaepernick was exercising his constitutional right, noting “a long history of sports figures making political statements.”
But when Giants pitchers added Scripture references to their hats Friday night, that same constitutional protection vanished.
“I’m thankful we live in a country where we have the freedom to believe what we want, and express what we want.”
One pitcher explained the verses carried no hate at all — just a statement of faith. He noted the rainbow is a symbol of God’s covenant and promise in Scripture.
The San Francisco Chronicle — the same outlet that once celebrated Kaepernick’s “constitutional right” — published a column by Ann Killion with the headline: “Giants pitchers didn’t just deface Pride uniforms. They alienated their fans and city.”
Killion wrote that the pitchers “decided to say a giant F-you to a good chunk of their fan base” and accused them of taking “a decidedly un-Christian stance of exclusion and judgment.” She labeled the pitchers “homophobic.”
The Athletic, a New York Times subsidiary, ran a piece titled “Giants pitchers’ Bible verses on Pride Night caps show how they’ve missed the point.” Writer Grant Brisbee claimed the pitchers made the night about “us versus them” and blamed them for creating conditions where LGBTQIA+ individuals feel “without value” or face assault.
The pitchers didn’t stop anyone from participating in Pride Night. They didn’t harm anyone. They didn’t prevent gay people from watching baseball. They simply expressed sincerely held religious beliefs.
The pattern is clear: the left didn’t champion Kaepernick because of deep commitment to the First Amendment. They championed him because they agreed with his message — that America is fundamentally racist and unjust. The First Amendment defense was a shield for an unpopular protest.
Now that athletes express views outside left-wing orthodoxy, the same First Amendment defense has disappeared. The same crowd that loved athletic activism suddenly hates it.
They never loved athletic activism. Just athletes who agreed with them.
