Singer Lance Bass, NBA free agent Jason Collins and retired MLB
player Billy Bean were among the fans helping to inaugurate the Los
Angeles Dodgers' first LGBT Night Out at Dodger Stadium on Friday.
The event included a first pitch by Collins and Bean, the national
anthem performed by Amber Riley (Glee) along with members of
the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles, and a fireworks show with music
by DJ Manny Lehman as the boys in blue destroyed the Rockies 11-0.
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“Thank you @Dodgers for inviting me to throw out 1st
pitch,” tweeted Collins, who came out in April.
Lance started the game by announcing, “It's time for Dodger
baseball!”
Among those attending the event was Danielle Goldey, the woman who
was escorted out of Dodger Stadium in 2000 for kissing her
then-girlfriend Meredith Kott. The team quickly apologized when
Goldey threatened to sue. But a request by Goldey to host an LGBT
night out went unfulfilled until now.
“I wish it did happen 13 years ago, when we initially asked for
it,” she
told Southern California Public Radio (KPCC). “But they're
stepping up to the plate, finally.”
Bean, a former Dodger who came out gay in 1999 after retiring from
professional baseball, said he was proud to return to the field.
“Last night, the LA Dodgers simply knocked it out of the
park!!,” Bean
wrote on Facebook. “They embraced their LGBT fans and proved
again, they are ALWAYS in front of curve. A simple moment of
inclusion, and as it should be … we are all fans … simply united
by our team. I was so proud to be on the field again. We have come
so far. For a moment, I thought of Glenn Burke, and then my own dark
moments in the closet while I was playing here. Then, as I walked
out onto the field, throwing out the first pitch with my buddy Jason
Collins, I smiled, and it made me realize … it’s getting better
and better. There is so much to look forward to.”