For the first time in Dodger Stadium’s 51-year history, the Los Angeles Dodgers will host an LGBT Night Out at 7:10 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, during a game against the Colorado Rockies.

Dodger Stadium will host its first-ever LGBT Night Out on Sept. 27, 13 years after a lesbian couple was escorted out of the stadium for sharing a simple kiss. (photo by Aaron Blevins)

That night, an undisclosed celebrity will throw out the first pitch, and special guest Amber Riley and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles will perform the national anthem. Friday Night Fireworks will be accompanied by music by DJ Manny Lehman.

“We welcome all fans to Dodger Stadium. Los Angeles is a very diverse community and the Dodger fanbase is equally diverse. We want everyone in our community to know there is a place for them to enjoy Dodger baseball at Dodger Stadium,” club president Stan Kasten said in a statement.

While some LGBT advocates are pleased that the Dodgers will host the event, it also brought to mind an incident in 2000 in which a lesbian couple was kicked out of the stadium for a simple kiss.

After the incident, Dodger officials made a public apology to the couple in West Hollywood, gave away 5,000 to 7,000 tickets to LGBT organizations of the couple’s choice and offered the two — Danielle Goldey and Meredith Kott — tickets to a future game with seats behind home plate. They also agreed to conduct sensitivity training with the stadium’s security guards.

“It was devastating. It was humiliating. It was shocking. It was all of those things,” Goldey said last week of getting escorted out of the stadium. However, the Tarzana resident is now pleased that the Dodgers will host a LGBT Night Out some 13 years later.

Her attorney, Bernie Bernheim, of the Bernheim Law Firm in Beverly Hills, said the security staff told his clients that a woman had complained about the kiss due to children being present, though he was never able to confirm that.

Whether the complaint occurred or not, eight or nine security guards, accompanied by a supervisor, helped escort Goldey and Kott out of the ballpark, he said.

“It wasn’t just one rogue security guy,” Bernheim added.

Initially, he believed that the stadium may have had a policy against same-sex kissing, but that was not the case. Bernheim said it was “just a kiss” that was incomparable to the people who sometimes “make out” at the ballpark. It also paled in comparison to the kiss Al and Tipper Gore shared at the 2000 Democratic National Convention, he said.

Goldey said Bernheim had pushed for the Dodgers to host such a night after she and Kott were kicked out, but the Dodgers declined.

“I’m happy that it’s finally happened,” she said, adding that she was not frustrated that the LGBT night took so long. “They still stepped up to the plate.”

West Hollywood City Councilman Jeff Prang said the LGBT night is a “good first step” for the Dodgers. He said the club’s decision to host such an event is important, but he didn’t want to overstate it.

“I think it’s great that they’re doing it. …It helps them recognize that there is certainly a large fan base among the LGBT community that has historically been ignored,” Prang said, referencing the HIV/AIDS awareness event, Strike Out AIDS, held at Dodger Stadium each year. Aside from that event and the upcoming LGBT Night Out, the team has been virtually invisible in the LGBT community, Prang said. “Hopefully this is a first step toward a new and more engaged relationship.”

Bernheim said it is about time the Dodgers held such an event.

“I’m really surprised it’s taken this long … because it was definitely something I discussed with the president at the time (Bob Graziano),” he said. The club has since had a change in ownership.

Though she’s tried to put the incident behind her, Goldey has attended many Dodgers games since without issue (she didn’t accept the tickets offered after being kicked out). However, in the months after being thrown out of the stadium, she said she received death threats.

While the bigotry troubled her, the altercation inspired others, who were proud that she and Kott stood up against the unfair treatment. Goldey said she was strong enough to handle the situation; however, had it occurred to a couple that had not informed their families that they were gay, it could have been devastating.

“Stuff happens, and sometimes you have to suck it up,” she said, adding that some people had advised her to sue the club, but “it’s not about the money.”

Bernheim said the Dodgers should let Goldey throw out the first pitch. Goldey, a pitcher on a softball team, loved the idea.

“That would be amazing,” she said, adding that throwing out a first pitch at Dodger Stadium is certainly on her bucket list.

Goldey and Kott have since parted ways. Goldey, who recently proposed to her partner of more than 10 years, Petra, during a flash mob in Santa Monica, is planning to attend the game.

“It’s going to be a great game, hopefully,” she said, adding that she hopes stadium staffers will put a gay couple on the kiss cam. “It would definitely validate their support of the community.”

Through it all, Goldey has retained her loyalty to the club, and is surely excited by the team’s postseason birth.

“I’m proud of the Dodgers. I love the Dodgers,” she said, before exclaiming, “Go Blue!”