Sports
MLB targets bullying with ‘Shred Hate’ program
11 D.C. schools participate in first year of project
Washington Nationals shortstop Trea Turner meets school kids participating in the Shred Hate program on the field at Nationals Stadium. (Photo courtesy MLB)
On May 23, about 250 students from 11 D.C. public and charter schools met Washington Nationals shortstop Trea Turner at Nationals Stadium, and about 25 of them joined Turner on the field shortly before the start of the game between the Nationals and the San Diego Padres.
In addition to talking about baseball, Turner talked to the middle and high school students about a subject he said he knows about personally – bullying and a program sponsored by Major League Baseball and the ESPN TV sports network to prevent bullying in the nation’s schools.
“I think two things,” Turner told the students, according to a joint statement released by the Nationals and MLB. “Be yourself, you are who you are and be proud of it,” he said. “And rely on your friends and your family.”
As the students listened intently, Turner added, “A lot of people that bully or whatever it may be, people that don’t know you, classmates or a lot of stuff is from people who don’t know you and what your values and morals are.”
Joining Turner in the gathering with the students that day was Billy Bean, a gay former Major League Baseball player who now serves as MLB’s Vice President for Social Responsibility and as Special Assistant to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.
The students’ visit with Turner and Bean at Nationals Park and the invitation they received to watch the Nationals game that day was part of a new program launched in January 2017 by Major League Baseball, ESPN, and ESPN’s X-Games sports competition called Shred Hate.
The Shred Hate program included visits by school kids to the ballparks in three participating cities during its first-year launch – D.C., Chicago, and Minneapolis. But the major component of the program took place in the approximately 35 schools in those cities along with others in Colorado that were selected for the 2017-2018 school year.
A non-profit San Francisco-based organization called No Bully, which has been training schools on how to put in place bullying prevention and eradication efforts for more than a decade, has been retained by MLB and ESPN to carry out the Shred Hate program in the selected schools.
“The No Bully System is a set of interventions to prevent and stop bullying and cyberbullying in school and after school programs,” according to a March 2018 statement released by ESPN. “The school leadership team receives coaching on how to lead school culture change,” it says.
“No Bully staff trainings motivate and teach school faculty how to interrupt and stop student bullying, and parents are trained to support the school’s anti-bullying initiative,” the statement says.
On its own website No Bully says it has developed and refined its bullying prevention system through years of partnering with schools across the country. It says schools that implement the ‘No Bully System’ are solving 90 percent of their bullying incidents. A key component of the system, according to No Bully, is direct involvement of the students who become members of a school “solution team” that responds to bullying incidents.
“The school joins with parents to prevent student bullying and cyberbullying through building a culture where every student is accepted for who they are,” the group says.
Bean told the Washington Blade that Trea Turner is one of as many as a dozen MLB players that have so far interacted with students from the schools participating in Shred Hate in D.C., Chicago, and Minneapolis during the program’s first year. In addition to the Washington Nationals, the participating players were with the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, and Minnesota Twins.
Several of the players, including Turner of the Nationals and Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton, have recorded videos that are being used as public service announcements, Bean said. He said the PSAs have been shown on the video screens at the ballparks as well as on some local TV stations.
“Every kid deserves go to school and have fun and just be themselves,” Buxton says in the PSA he recorded. “You know, there is no place in this world for bullying. Be proud of yourself. Be proud of the things that make you happy,” he says.
“It was important for me to let kids know you are somebody and to never give up because nothing’s impossible,” Buxton continues. “Together, let’s stop bullying. Choose kindness and shred hate.”
Asked whether the Shred Hate program, including its training programs in the schools, addresses the issue of anti-LGBT bullying, Bean said, “Absolutely. LGBT kids are persecuted and bullied at a higher percentage than those who don’t identify as LGBT.”
He added, “We would not have picked a partner that did not have a clear understanding of the time and place for those conversations” related to anti-LGBT bullying.
Lynne Seifert, a former school teacher and school administrator in Colorado who participated in the No Bully program in schools where she worked, now serves as No Bully’s partnership manager and coordinator for the Shred Hate program. During the past year she has visited schools in all three cities involved in Shred Hate, including some of the 11 D.C. schools, where she set up training sessions for teachers and administrators.
“We go in and we train the staff how to interrupt conflict and bullying in a very non-confrontational way,” Seifert told the Blade. “And we do that by using their social vision or their social contract,” she said, noting that the system encourages all students to agree to an unwritten “contract” and vision aimed at discouraging bullying and making it “cool” to be against bullying.
Seifert said that among the D.C. schools participating in the program were Washington Global Public Charter School, Center City Public Charter School, Washington Latin Public Charter School, Hardy Middle School and Hope Community Public Charter School.
Bean said Shred Hate officials conducted a survey of the principals at the 35 schools participating in the program this year in the three cities, and the results have been encouraging. Among other things, attendance at the schools increased an average of six percent over last year, he said.
“And they have decreased school suspensions by 50 percent,” said Bean. “They had a total of 175 detentions last year in those schools and they were down to only 47 this year,” he said. “So we’re seeing some across the board numbers” that indicate the program’s goal of “creating and sustaining a bully-free zone” is advancing, Bean said.
An MLB statement says the Shred Hate program was officially launched in January 2017 at the start of the X-Games in Aspen, Colo. The statement says among the schools in Colorado that became the first to participate in the No Bully System initiated by Shred Hate, incidents of bullying decreased by 94 percent.
Among the X-Games athletes participating in the Shred Hate program was U.S. Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy, who also has recorded an anti-bullying PSA. Kenworthy, who’s gay, became the subject of international news coverage in February during the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea when he kissed his boyfriend after completing a skiing competition.
He drew further attention when he declined an invitation by Vice President Mike Pence to meet, saying he disagreed with Pence’s and the Trump administration’s policies on LGBT issues.
“I think that Shred Hate is an awesome topic for X-Games to tackle,” Kenworthy said in the PSA he recorded. “In my later life when I was coming out I felt like I’ve been a victim of bullying, especially cyberbullying,” he said.
“So anyone out there who is experiencing bullying, remember your value. Remember your love. It’s a lot harder to go through bullying if you’re by yourself, so find an ally, talk to a teacher or parent or a friend,” he said while standing on a slope holding his skis.
Bean said the program expects to be in more than 50 schools and in three new cities for the 2018-2019 school year.
“MLB is extremely happy with the achievements of the Shred Hate Program after its first year,” Bean said. “We have worked very hard alongside our partners ESPN and No Bully and we have great optimism for the year two expansion of the program, and the potential to positively impact the lives of thousands of students,” he said.
“That success has only fortified our determination to grow the program and bring it to more MLB cities each year,” he said.
Sports
Every MLB team except this one celebrated Pride
Right-wingers react to ‘backlash’ against Rangers: ‘Bullying is unacceptable’
Once again, the Texas Rangers opted not to celebrate Pride last month with a dedicated day or night on its 2024 promotion schedule. And once again, the American League West team is the only Major League operation to do so.
This repeated omission by the reigning World Series champs has sparked what one conservative news site calls a “ridiculous backlash.” As the Washington Examiner’s Kimberly Ross wrote this week:
“There is no getting away from these ubiquitous celebrations. Instead of ‘to each his own,’ major league teams are nearly required to give in and perform in an effort to placate the loudest crowds. It’s not good enough to include everyone at all times. You must kowtow or else. This kind of bullying is unacceptable, and it’s worth pushing back against whether you’re a regular citizen or the 2023 World Series champion Texas Rangers.”
But the only evidence of the “backlash” was a balanced report by Schuyler Dixon of the Associated Press that appeared on the website of KSAT-TV in San Antonio, detailing the frustrations of local LGBTQ advocates and fans. His report was posted by the AP under the headline: “Why are the Texas Rangers the only MLB team without a Pride Night?” The virulently anti-trans British tabloid, the Daily Mail rehashed that same AP piece but added that LGBTQ groups were “FURIOUS” without substantiating that claim with a single quote.
At most, DeeJay Johannessen, chief executive of the HELP Center, an LGBTQ organization based in Tarrant County, where the Rangers play, told the AP he felt “kind of embarrassed.” The Daily Mail headline writer was apparently “kind of” clickbaiting.
“It’s kind of an embarrassment to the city of Arlington that their team is the only one that doesn’t have a Pride night,” Johannessen said. Local advocate Rafael McDonnell said, “It pains me that this remains an issue [after] all these years.”
How painful? McDonnell told the AP he considered not attending the championship parade with his boyfriend when the Rangers celebrated their first World Series championship last fall. Ultimately, he decided to go. So much for “FURIOUS.”
McDonnell is the communications and advocacy manager for the Resource Center, which is an organization that grew out of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. He added that his group has worked with the Rangers, at their invitation, to help them develop a policy of inclusion, starting about five years ago.
The team has sent employees to volunteer for programs supporting its efforts in advocating for marriage equality and transgender rights.
Although McDonnell said members of the Rangers staff keep in contact with him, he told the AP he can’t recall any conversations with the team since its five-game victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in last year’s World Series.
“For a long time, I’ve thought that it might be somebody very high up in the organization who is opposed to this for some reason that is not clearly articulated,” McDonnell said. “To say that the Rangers aren’t doing anything for the community, well, they have. But the hill that they are choosing to stake themselves out on is no Pride night.”
The Rangers did celebrate Mexican heritage during a game last month, and also host nights throughout the season dedicated to other groups as well as the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, first responders, teachers, and the military. The team also recognizes universities from around the Dallas-Fort Worth area and other parts of the Lone Star State. But not Pride.
Why? The Rangers issued a statement, very similar to one from 2023. It lists various organizations the team has sponsored and steps it has taken internally to “create a welcoming, inclusive, and supportive environment for fans and employees.”
“Our longstanding commitment remains the same: To make everyone feel welcome and included in Rangers baseball — in our ballpark, at every game, and in all we do — for both our fans and our employees,” the team said. “We deliver on that promise across our many programs to have a positive impact across our entire community.”
“I think it’s a private organization,” said Rangers fan Will Davis. “And if they don’t want to have it, I don’t think they should be forced to have it.” Davis is from Marble Falls, about 200 miles southwest of the stadium in Central Texas and attended a recent game with his son’s youth baseball team.
“I think if it were something where MLB said, ‘We’re not participating in this,’ but the MLB does participate in it. And the Rangers have chosen not to,” said Rangers fan Misty Lockhart, who lives near told the ballpark. Lockhart told the AP she attends almost three dozen games every season. “I think that’s where I take the bigger issue, is they have actively chosen not to participate in it.”
While Lockhart says she doesn’t see Pride night as a political issue, she suggested there would be more pressure on the Rangers if their stadium was downtown, in the heart of Dallas County, where the majority of elected officials are Democrats. Tarrant County, home to Arlington, Fort Worth and Global Life Stadium, is generally more conservative, just like the governor, lieutenant governor, legislature, and fans like Will Davis.
“In something like this, this is a way for people to go as a state,” Davis told the AP. “We don’t want the political stuff shoved down our throats one way or the other, left or right. We’re coming out here to have a good time with friends or family and let it be.”
Unfortunately, some Rangers fans decided they could not “let it be” the one time the team welcomed local LGBTQ groups to a game as part of a fundraising event, as it does for other groups. This was in September 2003, two years after the Chicago Cubs hosted what is considered the first-ever Pride game. At that time, Rangers fans raged about the invitation on a website, and showed up to protest outside the stadium before that game.
The Rangers never extended that invitation again.
Sports
Haters troll official Olympics Instagram for celebrating gay athlete and boyfriend
Campbell Harrison clapped back at online trolls
Olympian Campbell Harrison has already conquered an eating disorder, anxiety, depression, and disappointment for skipping the Tokyo Summer Games so he could support his older sister in her battle with cancer.
So, he’s saying “no wucka’s” (meaning, “no problem” in Aussie lingo) to the bigots, trolls, mongrels, and “drongos” (meaning, “dicks” and “fools,” respectively) who plastered their disapproval in the comments of an Instagram post celebrating him as the first LGBTQ sport climber in Olympic history.
The post wasn’t even his; the official Olympics Instagram account shared pictures from his qualifying climb from November 2023, and tagged Harrison earlier this week.
“Celebration kiss for the ages 😘🌈” reads the caption. “After not making it to Tokyo 2020, Australian sport climber Campbell Harrison did not give up and four years later secured a quota spot for the Olympic Games #Paris2024. It was an emotional victory celebrated together with his partner, Justin.”
Harrison, having seen the negative comments multiply, took them in stride with a snappy response that included a tag to his boyfriend, Justin Maire, whose account is private.
“All these people mad cause we’re hotter than they are 😘,” Harrison wrote.
Harrison’s mother, Yvette, shared her support: “I could not be more proud of you my beautiful son. You and Justin are such a beautiful couple and we love you both very much. 🏳️🌈🙌❤️”
There were plenty of other supportive comments, and haters were called out, too: “I love all the people following the @Olympics page due to the Olympic spirit (among other values), who don’t see the irony of bashing an Olympic athlete because of who they love,” wrote out travel writer and LGBTQ rights advocate Mikah Meyer.
The person managing the official Olympics Instagram account was asked to do a better job curating the comments, which were largely vitriolic and cruel. The account posted this plea: “Let’s keep our community positive ❤️ Please ensure your comments are respectful and avoid any language that could be offensive, or harmful to others. We reserve the right to remove comments that do not adhere to this guideline.”
Gay Olympic champion diver Matthew Mitcham commented: “15 years ago I kissed my partner on camera when I won in Beijing 2008. This one post by @olympics has received more hate than I did in my whole career.”
Today is Harrison’s 28th birthday. He, his boyfriend and his mother recently spoke with Climbing’s Holly Yu Tung Chen. She wrote:
“Campbell arrived in the world on June 28, 1997, screaming inconsolably. Unlike his three other siblings, who were all ‘peaches and cream,’ said Yvette, baby Campbell was “squishy and cuddly, yes — but he had a lot to say from the word go.”
“Campbell started climbing at age eight when Russell took the children to the Victorian Climbing Centre and noticed Campbell’s immediate vigor. It’s the age-old climber tale: Campbell almost immediately lost interest in the other sports he dabbled in, including swimming, soccer, and track and field. All he wanted to do was climb.”
Harrison told Climbing although he never actually “came out” as gay, he never hid his sexuality, and simply made sure his parents and siblings knew who he was. For example, when he told the family he’d be joining Climbing Cuties, an affinity group for queer climbers, they told him to have fun. On another occasion, Harrison let them know he’d be taking part in a panel for queer climbers, and his parents asked if they could attend.
As for his boyfriend, Harrison told Climbing they met cute.
“In the age where most people meet online, we had the classic story of catching each other’s eye from across the room,” said Harrison. Maire told the reporter he recognized Campbell from social media, where the climber does not hide their relationship, and that often results in comments that his posts have “gotten too political.”
“How is that political?” he asked, rhetorically, noting that most of the hateful comments he receives online come from Americans. “Why should I change the way I feel just because of someone else’s perception of me?” he said.
Last November, the only climber to top the men’s finals route during the IFSC Oceania Qualifier in Melbourne was Harrison. Watching him ascend were his parents and boyfriend, as he clipped the final draw and collapsed inward, his hands covering his face as he was lowered down. He had punched his ticket to Paris with this win.
Once he was on the ground, Harrison made a beeline to Maire, where they hugged and kissed, as recorded on Instagram.
The Washington Mystics will be having their upcoming Pride game on Saturday against the Dallas Wings.
The Mystics Pride game is one of the team’s theme nights they host every year, with Pride night being a recurring event. The team faced off against the Phoenix Mercury last June. Brittney Griner, who Russia released from a penal colony in December 2022 after a court convicted her of importing illegal drugs after customs officials at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage, attended the game.
Unlike the NBA, where there are currently no openly LGBTQ players, there are multiple WNBA players who are out. Mystics players Emily Englster, Brittney Sykes, and Stefanie Dolson are all queer.
The Mystics on June 1 acknowledged Pride Month in a post to its X account.
“Celebrating Pride this month and every month,” reads the message.
Celebrating #Pride this month and every month 🏳️🌈🫶 pic.twitter.com/yFhDoggAVZ
— Washington Mystics (@WashMystics) June 1, 2024
The game is on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Entertainment and Sports Arena (1100 Oak Drive, S.E.). Fans can purchase special Pride tickets that come with exclusive Mystics Pride-themed jerseys.
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