Christian Ballplayer Told to Pipe Down

In 2013, while playing for the Oakland Athletics, Jonny Gomes spoke out in favor of gay rights. “I’m a firm believer in if people fight for our country, they can play sports, you know? If you’re good and you have a boyfriend or you’re married and you fight for our country, you should be able to play a game.”

Curiously, Gomes was not censured or told to stop talking about issues unrelated to baseball. He was not urged to temper his comments so he didn’t risk offending Christians who may not agree with his ideas. In fact, his comment went largely without notice.

Why, then, is the second baseman for the New York Mets being told to keep his mouth shut about the same issues? Obviously, given the pro-LGBT sentiments we’ve heard from Gomes, Yogi Berra, Mike Napoli, and others, it’s not considered improper to give one’s opinions on these issues. No, that’s not the problem. The problem is that Daniel Murphy did not express the right opinions.

Asked by a reporter to give his thoughts after Billy Bean – an openly gay former player – visited the Mets, Murphy made the tragic mistake of being honest. While admitting that he was “ready for a gay teammate,” Murphy said, “I disagree with [Bean’s] lifestyle. I do disagree with the fact that Billy is a homosexual. That doesn’t mean I can’t still invest in him and get to know him.”

Uh oh. That’s not anywhere to be found in the great liberalism handbook, you bad little Christian. You’re going to have to be punished for failing to fall in line.

While Murphy’s comments were apparently not vicious enough to warrant a suspension, the Mets have told him that he is not to talk to the media about anything besides baseball from now on. According to ESPN:

New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy will no longer address his religious beliefs and will stick to baseball, a team spokesman said Wednesday.

The Mets organization is well within their rights to tell their players what they can and cannot say to the media, but this kind of hypocrisy is maddening. Why have we become a nation so unwilling to accept that not everyone buys into the grand holy grail of LGBT glorification that the left has built up so carefully? Why are Christian viewpoints marginalized?

The left is always screaming about tolerance, but when push comes to shove, they so-readily expose that “tolerance” as just another word for “say what we tell you to say and nothing more.”