San Francisco Giants 10th LGBT Night salutes Gay Games 30th Anniversary

The scene was electric. ATT Park, home field for Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants. A full house of 42,000 fans on hand for a divisional rivalry game with the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was also the 10th Annual LGBT Night game from this pioneering pro sports team. The crowd included 1,000 purchasers of a special LGBT ticket that included a private pre-game party and an exclusive rainbow-themed knit cap. For the second year in a row, these special LGBT tickets sold out weeks before the game.

Just before the Giants came to bat in the bottom of the 6th inning, the enormous scoreboard presented a wonderful video salute to two major anniversaries being celebrated in 2012: the 40th Anniversary of the San Francisco Gay Softball League, and the 30th Anniversary of Gay Games I. The ovation for this video must have inspired the team, since they promptly went out and scored to tie the game 1 - 1.



One inning later, a quintet of singers from the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco led the sold-out crowd in an a capella performance of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame," also captured on video. This too must have inspired the home team since the Giants went on to score two more runs. They won the game 3 - 1, breaking the four year "curse" of losing on LGBT Night.

Staffing the informational table and promoting Gay Games 9
were (left to right) Martha from Team SF,
Mike from Team SF, and Tyler, co-chair of Team SF.
They're all wearing the knit cap given to the 1,000 purchasers
of the special LGBT Night game tickets.

Earlier in the game, several local LGBT organizations staffed an informational table at the Giants' "Community Clubhouse" area behind home plate. All the groups mentioned above were represented, and postcards and brochures for Gay Games 9 - Cleveland 2014 were distributed. Overhead, the recap DVD from the 2006 Chicago Gay Games showed on a large flat-screen monitor.

A portion of the proceeds from the 1,000 special LGBT tickets will be shared by several beneficiary organizations: the Federation of Gay Games, Team San Francisco, and the San Francisco Gay Softball League.

To the San Francisco Giants, for the 10th year in a row, the LGBT Community of the San Francisco Bay Area says "thank you" to the most generous and progressive of all professional sports organizations!