The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence joined West Hollywood Planning Commissioner Erick Matos and Mayor Pro Tempore John Erickson for Harvey Milk Day on May 22. (photo courtesy of John Erickson)

Activist groups and officials from around the country condemned the Los Angeles Dodgers’ May 17 decision to rescind an invitation to the Los Angeles chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to its June 16 Pride Night. Following public pressure, the Dodgers reinstated the invitation on May 22 and issued an apology. The organization is also again set to receive the Dodgers’ Community Hero Award.

“After much thoughtful feedback from our diverse communities, honest conversations within the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and generous discussions with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Los Angeles Dodgers would like to offer our sincerest apologies to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, members of the LGBTQ+ community and their friends and families,” a statement from the Dodgers read. “In the weeks ahead, we will continue to work with our LGBTQ+ partners to better educate ourselves, find ways to strengthen the ties that bind and use our platform to support all of our fans who make up the diversity of the Dodgers family.”

The Sisters accepted the invitation and issued a statement via social media.

“We believe the apology is sincere because the Dodgers have worked for 10 years with our community and as well they have asked us to continue an ongoing relationship with them,” the Sisters’ statement read. “In the future, if similar pressures from outside our community arise, our two organizations will consult and assist each other in responding, alongside our colleagues at the Los Angeles LGBT Center and others from the LGBTQIA2S community, now more closely tied with the L.A. Dodgers than ever before. This affair has been an opportunity for learning with a silver lining. Our group has been strengthened, protected and uplifted to a position where we may now offer our message of hope and joy to far more people than before.”

LA Pride, which had stepped down from its partnership for Dodgers Pride Night after the decision, also thanked the Dodgers and the Sisters.

“The Los Angeles Dodgers have taken a good first step towards their commitment to the LGBTQ+ community by renewing their invite to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at next month’s Pride Night,” a statement from LA Pride read. “We fully support the Sisters receiving their much-deserved Community Hero Award and will stand in solidarity with them at Pride Night. They continue to inspire us with their grace. We are always stronger when we stand together.”

L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, 3rd District, was key in bringing the Dodgers, LGBTQ+ leaders and the Sisters into negotiations.

“The commitment to doing better is real, made possible through the limitless grace of the Sisters,” she said. “It is rare for an organization like [the Dodgers] to publicly recognize a mistake and commit to doing better. Thank you.”

L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn, 4th District, applauded Horvath’s work in bringing the entities together.

“Thank you, Lindsey. I’m so proud of you and the Dodgers,” Hahn said.

According to a report from the Los Angeles Times, the pressure to revoke the invitation started with a Midwestern group called CatholicVote, calling the organization an “anti-Catholic hate group,” a description that was vehemently denied by the Sisters. Other conservatives from around the country piled on, including U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

When the Dodgers announced that the group would no longer be recognized, LGBTQ+ organizations and public officials immediately issued statements decrying the decision. LA Pride pulled its sponsorship of the event, and many leaders said they would boycott the game. Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken issued an invitation to the Sisters to the Los Angeles Angels’ Pride Night, and the city of West Hollywood announced the organization would join its Dyke March during WeHo Pride.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles LGBT Center and other local officials worked to reinvite the Sisters to the Dodgers’ Pride Night.

“I’m so proud of the center for mobilizing accordingly – from helping the press to understand the full complexity of this issue, to posting urgently on social media in defense of the Sisters, to creating an email action that flooded the Dodgers’ inboxes all weekend, to having hard dialogue with the Dodgers about their missteps,” the center’s CEO Joe Hollendoner said. “But I’m also so proud of you for supporting us and helping us to have this impact. Thanks in part to our collective efforts – as well as the triumphant resilience of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence – the Dodgers officially apologized, and re-invited the Sisters to be honored at Pride Night.”

The Sisters thanked the community for coming together in support.

“With great love and respect, we thank each person and each organization that have spoken up for us. Thank you, and may your hearts be blessed with pure joy,” a statement from the Sisters read.