Lance Berkman’s Speech Should Be Cancelled, Say LGBT Activists

By Edwin Kee
Lance Berkman's presence at Christian Day has raised protests by LGBT activists
The former St. Louis Cardinals player has strong views against setting up transgender bathrooms, and LGBT activists have requested for his removal from this year's Christian Day. Getty Images

LGBT activists do seem to be on a constant warpath against anyone who has a view that differs from them -- and this has continued with the call to cancel a Christian athlete’s speech. Lance Berkman, a former player with the St. Louis Cardinals, has expressed his stance on transgender bathrooms in the past. With each summer being a time for the St. Louis Cardinals to host Christian Day at the ballpark, Berkman is the speaker for this year’s edition. In an effort to look ‘fair’, the Cardinals baseball team will also play host to an annual LGBT Pride Night in 2017.

According to Outsports, an LGBT sports news website that is under the ownership of Vox, has labelled Berkman to be an “avowed, outspoken homophobe”. The website even went as far as to make unfair and illogical comparisons of him, citing him to be a person who “proactively fought against the civil rights of black people or women.”

Outsports co-founder Cyd Zeigler mentioned, “The Cardinals should cancel Berkman’s appearance at their ‘Christian Day’. Nothing short of that—including finding ways for LGBT people to overspend on Cardinals tickets, hot dogs and cocktails—will be good enough.”

Berkman’s position on transgender bathrooms have been expressed in the past, where he opposed to having transgender people use the bathroom that is in line with their professed gender. According to the father of four girls, he spoke in 2015 concerning Houston’s proposed equal-rights ordinance, that he was against having “troubled men to enter women’s bathrooms, showers and locker rooms.”

The Cardinals continue to stand by Berkman, having issued a statement last week that said, “As an organization, the Cardinals have always been committed to bringing like-minded groups together to share in the unifying experience of Cardinals baseball. We are an inclusive organization with a social responsibility to be welcoming to all types of people and organizations.”

It is highly laudable that the Cardinals continue to support Berkman despite having faced protests and calls for him to not speak at this year’s ‘Christian Day’. In fact, it is one of the rarer times in a world where a professing Christian is able to express his or her views on certain non-negotiable aspects of the Christian faith without an organization or company backing out from the seemingly growing pressures of pro-LGBT sectors.

Most people would find it rather ironic that on an event that has been earmarked to be a ‘Christian Day’, the speaker involved is unable to give a speech simply based on his stance on transgender bathrooms in the past. It would be akin to blocking all pro-LGBT voices during a pride parade, which does not make sense at all. The narrow viewpoint that the LGBT activists in this case has shown just how misguided they are, where it looks as though only they are entitled to be able to express their thoughts and fight for their rights, while the rest of the world will have to kowtow to them.

This is a pattern that repeats itself all over the world when it comes to the LGBT community, especially those at the forefront of the “fight”. Certain similarities between the pro-LGBT segment and fundamentalist Islamists who want the Shariah Law to be implemented where they are have been drawn before, as there the self-proclaimed ‘religion of peace’ have always presented itself to be docile in nature when the numbers are small, before it slowly but surely grows to be a loud voice in the future. Many Western nations have already had this experience with the flood of Muslim immigrants and refugees as shown in the past.

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