Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw said in an interview this week that he disagreed with the team's decision to invite to their Pride Night event a group that satirically portrays nuns wearing drag.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is a nonprofit group of street performers who describe themselves as "a leading-edge Order of queer and trans nuns" who satirize conservative Christian viewpoints on issues of sex, gender identity, and morality.
The group was awarded the Dodgers' Community Hero Award this year. The team previously rescinded the award and disinvited the group from the Dodgers' Pride Night events after receiving criticism, only to reverse that decision after more criticism, according to USA Today.
Kershaw told the Los Angeles Times this week that "I don't agree with making fun of other people's religions. It has nothing to do with anything other than that.
"I just don't think that, no matter what religion you are, you should make fun of somebody else's religion. So that's something that I definitely don't agree with."
He continued, "As a team, between my wife and I and different people that I respect, we talked a lot about the right response to this. It's never an easy thing, because it felt like it elicited a response."
Kershaw added that he announced the team's Christian faith event early due to the news of the group's inclusion.
"For us, we felt like the best thing to do in response was, instead of maybe making a statement condemning or anything like that, would be just to instead try to show what we do support, as opposed to maybe what we don't," he said. "And that was Jesus. So to make Christian Faith Day our response is what we felt like was the best decision."
He added, "This has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community or pride or anything like that. This is simply a group that was making fun of a religion. That I don't agree with."