Tony Paul of the Detroit News is reporting that the Detroit Tigers will host the first LGBT pride night in franchise history on June 3 when the Oakland Athletics will be in town for an inter-divisional matchup.
The announcement, which was made Monday (2015 Opening Day), comes on the heels of the A's announcement that they will host their own LGBT night on June 17. That announcement was met with some opposition by some season ticket holders, which prompted Eireann Dolan, girlfriend of A's pitcher Sean Doolittle, to offer to buy any unwanted tickets so they could be donated to Oakland-area LGBT youth organizations.
The News reports that no such opposition has been voiced by Tigers season ticket holders.
Four other major league franchises are scheduled to host LGBT pride nights this year: the Oakland A's, the LA Dodgers, the San Francisco Giants, and the Chicago Cubs. Like the Tigers, this year marks the first that the A's, Dodgers, and Giants will host pride nights. The Cubs have hosted them since 2001.
The Tigers become the second professional sports franchise in Detroit to recognize Detroit's LGBT communities. Last year, the Detroit City Football Club sported limited edition jerseys bearing an equal sign to promote marriage equality in Michigan. The jerseys were later auctioned to benefit the Ruth Ellis Center, a Highland Park organization that provides support services to runaway, homeless, and at-risk LGBT youth. To date, the soccer club is the only professional sports organization in Michigan to take a stance in support of marriage equality.
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in the Detroit News.