Giants Pitchers Write Bible Verse on Pride Night Hats, Sparking Controversy

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A decision by three San Francisco Giants pitchers to write Bible verses on their Pride Night hats has sparked controversy in one of the nation’s most liberal cities, with critics calling the gesture bigoted and supporters praising the players for standing by their faith.

Giants pitchers Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker, and Ryan Walker wrote Genesis 9:12-16 on their Pride Night rainbow-themed caps, while a fourth pitcher – Sam Hentges – declined to wear the Pride Night cap and instead opted for the team's standard game hat. Adding to the controversy: All four pitchers played in the team’s game against the Chicago Cubs.

The cap’s “SF” logo included the rainbow colors but also the colors from another symbol important to the LGBT community: the Progress Pride flag.

Genesis 9:12-16 describes God's covenant after the flood, establishing the rainbow as a lasting reminder of His promise. Verse 13 states: “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”

All-Star pitcher Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers started the trend during his team’s Pride Night in 2025, when he wrote “Genesis 9:12-16” on his cap and was seen with it on in the dugout. But because Kershaw did not play that night – and perhaps because the gesture took place outside the liberal bastion of San Francisco – it generated far less attention.

California Sen. Scott Wiener criticized the Giants players, saying they “could have cited the rainbow bible verse on any of the other 364 days of the year.” 

“Instead, they chose to cite it only on Pride Night & only in connection with the rainbow Giants logo celebrating our LGBTQ community,” Wiener wrote. “There’s only one explanation for that choice – a choice the Giants tolerated. It’s hard to envision the Giants tolerating this kind of behavior directed at any other community. The Giants can & must do better.”

The Giants released a statement saying they are “proud to support Pride Night and the LGBTQ+ community” and they “also respect that individuals may make personal choices about participating in team activations.”

“We understand that the choices by individual players have caused pain and anger to many in the LGBTQ+ community, and we are sorry for that,” the statement said. “Those choices do not change our organization’s commitment to inclusion, belonging, and creating a welcoming environment for all.”

Mark Powell of FanSided said the three players “hid behind a 2,000-year-old book.” Of course, the verses they cited come from Genesis – part of the Old Testament and traditionally understood to predate the New Testament by more than 1,000 years. Genesis is part of the Jewish Torah.

“We cannot blame professional athletes for their beliefs, but we can and should judge them harshly,” Powell wrote. 

Roupp said the Bible reference was intended to highlight God’s covenant and was not meant as a statement of animosity.

Landen Roupp had Genesis 9:12-16 written on his pride hat tonight.

"It's just about God's covenant and a promise that he makes to us."

"It's just something I believe in and I stand firm in that. Thankfully we live in a country where we have the freedom to believe what we want." pic.twitter.com/asu2tdEW1x

— KNBR (@KNBR) June 13, 2026

“The rainbow is a symbol of God's covenant to us, and us as believers stand firm in that,” he said, adding there is “no hate” in what he did.

“I believe in God, and that's me,” Roupp said.

Asked what he would say to someone who considered his action derogatory, Roupp replied, “First of all, as a believer, I would push them to read the Bible.” 

“God has blessed me in so many ways, and I don't think I’d be here right now if it wasn't for Him. There's no hate in it at all. … I'm just thankful that God’s put me in this situation, that I can go out and share His Kingdom.” 

Hentges also defended his decision, saying he felt as if he was “being forced to support when I don’t morally support it.”

“But, there wasn’t hatred behind it,” Hentges said. “I think that’s something that’s misinterpreted. I don’t hate the LGBTQ community, but it’s just something that I believed and talked with teammates and family. They supported it, so we did it.”

Meanwhile, a post from The Athletic on X/Twitter sparked plenty of backlash from Christian leaders when it asserted the players made “a night meant for inclusion about something else entirely.”

“Whoopsie daisy, you said it backward,” Josh Howerton of Lakepointe Church in Texas wrote. “The GIANTS made a night supposed to be about baseball about something else entirely: forcing Christians to publicly deny their 2,000-year-old convictions.”

Photo Credit: ©YouTube / MLB

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel. 

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