Scott Wiener says MLB players 'defaced' their LGBT pride caps 'with a biblical passage'

Democratic California state Sen. Scott Wiener accused San Francisco Giants players of having "defaced their Pride caps with a biblical passage" by scrawling a verse from Genesis on their Major League Baseball-issued rainbow hats earlier this week.

"On San Francisco Giants Pride Night — also the tenth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub massacre — several players defaced their Pride caps with a biblical passage that has been hijacked by homophobes to 'take back' the rainbow from LGBTQ people," Wiener said in a Tuesday statement.

Three Giants players, including starting pitcher Landen Roupp, included references to Genesis 9 on the pride night cap they were given for the team's LGBT pride night last Friday. The chapter recounts God's use of the rainbow as a sign of His covenant with Noah and his descendants, promising never to flood the earth again.

The MLB subsequently issued verbal warnings to the players, which has prompted fierce national debate over alleged religious discrimination and corporate advocacy for behavior that many Christians believe is sinful.

Wiener, who is openly gay and has represented the San Francisco area in the California State Senate since 2016, is running to replace outgoing Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in Congress. In his post, Wiener accused the three Giants players of homophobia and condemned the MLB for not punishing them more harshly.

"The players could have displayed this passage any night of the year but chose to do it only on Pride Night. The Giants, sadly, took no action in response, which is inconsistent with the Giants' longstanding support for our LGBTQ community," he said.

"Major League Baseball then warned the players that MLB rules bar defacement of uniforms. The Giants should publicly commit to enforcing rules around uniform defacement and should not effectively create a homophobia exemption to those rules."

The MLB's warnings prompted outrage from political figures such as Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who fired off a letter to MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred on Tuesday demanding the league provide documents by June 19 on uniform regulations, past disciplinary actions, religious expression policies, pride night requirements and any anti-discrimination practices, citing MLB's antitrust exemption.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier indicated his office is investigating alleged religious discrimination by the MLB, and Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway also warned of a potential investigation, noting her state "will not tolerate any threat to punish a player for exercising his sincerely held religious or moral beliefs."

Wiener accused Hawley and other "MAGA leaders" of using the incident to declare "an anti-LGBTQ culture war, in an attempt to bully MLB from enforcing its rules."

"MAGA leaders are only taking issue with enforcement of the rule against homophobic defacement, not any other form of defacement," he said.

Accusing "MAGA" of "bigotry against LGBTQ people," Wiener continued: "This isn't an issue of religious freedom. People have a right to whatever religious beliefs they want — even if those beliefs dehumanize other people — but they don't have a right to hijack their employer to promote those hateful beliefs at a job-related event. MLB didn't warn these players for their faith. Rather, it warned them for violating the rules of their employment."

Some users on social media accused Wiener of supporting compelled speech and exhibiting anti-Christian bigotry, with some pointing out that he has participated in events with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a troupe of drag queens who dress as nuns and mock Christianity.

The Giants players who wore Bible verses on their hats have also prompted widespread support, including from Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Ryan Thompson, who offered a theological explanation of the rainbow's significance to Christians.

Ryan Thompson: "Landen Roupp wrote a verse on his hat that means he's anti something. That doesn't mean that. It means that he's pro something. It means that he believes in the Noahic Covenant being something that's special to us as Christians."
pic.twitter.com/DMUTGksVuG

— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) June 17, 2026

Pushing back against claims that the players were attempting to present themselves as being anti-LGBT, Thompson said: "It means that he believes in the Noahic Covenant being something that's special to us as Christians, right? That means that no matter how bad we possibly could be, no matter how much we reject God, that He will never again flood the earth."

"That's really cool. That's really special. And we do a lot of stuff, and we're all sinful. We all do a lot of stuff that may be worthy of a flooding, but God will never flood us, and because of that promise, and His promises are unconditional," he added.