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The Department of Justice has launched a civil rights probe into Major League Baseball, after the league issued a warning against three San Francisco Giants players who wrote Bible verses on their hats worn during the team’s annual “Pride Night” game.
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The San Francisco Giants hosted the Chicago Cubs at Oracle Park for the team’s annual Pride Night game last Friday. While players donned Pride-themed hats, three Giants pitchers inscribed Bible verses on their Pride-themed hats, and a fourth declined to wear a hat altogether.
On Thursday, assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon took to X to share a letter she wrote to league Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, explaining that she had referred the organization to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, for upholding a “double standard” and potential religious discrimination.
“Major League Baseball encouraged players to wear “Black Lives Matter” on their uniforms but reportedly threatened Christians who write Bible verses on their hats,” Dhillon wrote on X. In her letter, she added that the Civil Rights Act “prohibits MLB and its franchises from unreasonably burdening the rights of players with religious objections to serving as the League’s vehicle for pro-Pride messages.”
“Federal law is clear: employers must modify their uniform requirements to reasonably accommodate their employees’ exercise of religion,” Dhillon wrote.
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In a social media statement published Thursday, EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas refused to confirm or deny the existence of a charge or investigation without a court-filing or public resolution, citing confidentiality requirements under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. However, she assured that the “EEOC is committed to protecting the religious liberty of all workers.”
The Pride Night maelstrom arrived just weeks after West Sacramento launched its bid for an MLB expansion team on May 28. The city is clamoring to clinch one of two league expansion spots by Manfred’s retirement in 2029, taking the number of teams from 30 to 32.
Sacramento is currently home to the River Cats and the Athletics. The A’s hosted their annual Pride Night game on Wednesday at Sutter Health Park, named the “Glenn Burke Pride Night” in honor of the first openly gay former MLB player who played for the A’s from 1978 to 1979 and who publicly came out in 1982 after retirement.
29 of the 30 MLB teams host an annual Pride Night game.
Francesca Slater, the chief operating officer of Sacramento’s LGBT Community Center threw out the first ceremonial pitch during Wednesday’s game. Last year, Burke’s nephew, Andrew Hunt, made the throw.
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This story was originally published June 19, 2026 at 11:36 AM.