NY Mets will host an LGBT Pride Night this season
By JOHN DORN
Over recent years, a number of MLB teams have hosted "Pride Nights" for the LGBT communities in their respective areas -- with the Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants, Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers among them. To this point, no professional New York sports team had put on such an event.
The New York Mets are about to change that.
The defending National League champions will host a Pride Night at some point this season, according to the New York Post.
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"I'm proud to be making this announcement," said David Kilmnick, CEO of the LGBT Network. "As a lifelong Met fan, and two, we get to beat the Yankees on this."
The Mets have honored different communities in the past at Citi Field and Shea Stadium, with annual Noche Latinas and Jewish Heritage Nights. Kilmnick anticipates upwards of 5,000 LGBT fans will be in attendance, and a portion of the ticket sales will go to the LGBT Network's anti-bullying programs.
The news comes almost exactly a year after then-Mets infielder Daniel Murphy publicly spoke out against the LGBT community, saying that he could eventually accept having a gay teammate, but that he "disagree[s] with the lifestyle, 100 percent."
Murphy has since joined the rival Washington Nationals.
