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By Movieguide® Staff
The Baltimore Orioles announced this week that Heidi N Closet, a drag queen best known from RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE, will serve as the Guest Splasher in the Tower Federal Credit Union Bird Bath during the bottom of the second inning of Friday night’s Pride Night game at Camden Yards.
“Isn’t the splash zone area for kids? This is kinda weird even for centrist, independents, or even slightly left-leaning folks,” one X user wrote.
The Bird Bath sits in Sections 84 and 86 of left field, where fans get sprayed with water by the team’s beloved Mr. Splash after extra-base hits. Right next door — literally — is the Orioles’ Under Armor Kids Home Run Porch, Sections 76-82, which the team markets as “the ultimate gameday destination for kids and their families.” Children must be 12 and under and accompanied by an adult.
The Orioles are technically correct that the Bird Bath isn’t an exclusively children’s space. Adults buy tickets there too. But a water splash attraction at a baseball park isn’t exactly drawing a crowd of childless adults looking for sophisticated entertainment. Kids like getting wet. Kids like silly gimmicks. Booking a RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE alum to run it — immediately beside the official kids section — is a choice the team made with eyes wide open.
And they’re proud of it. The Orioles have pushed Pride Night hard across their social media accounts: 15,000 Pride Night jersey giveaways, free roundtrip MARC Camden Line train tickets beginning at 3:30 p.m., face painters, friendship bracelets, rainbow candied popcorn and a Pride cocktail. Friday’s game is against the Washington Nationals.
Related: SF Giants Teammates Take a Stand Against Pride
“This is nothing more than activism, all the while ignoring the fact that preferential treatment is ALWAYS divisive,” another X user wrote.
The timing is hard to ignore. Just this month, Movieguide® reported on San Francisco Giants pitchers who pushed back on their team’s Pride Night by writing Bible verses on their hats — pitcher Landen Roupp wrote Genesis 9:12-16 — and MLB issued an oral warning under its uniform policy. The Department of Justice later opened an investigation into whether the league discriminated against those players on religious grounds. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred eventually acknowledged no players were fined or disciplined.
In Baltimore, the franchise has its own players of faith. Movieguide® recently covered Orioles outfielder Jackson Holliday, who spoke openly about drawing strength from his faith through the highs and lows of an MLB career. Whatever Holliday and his teammates make of Friday night’s Guest Splasher announcement, they haven’t said publicly.
The contrast is hard to miss. Baseball players writing Scripture on their hats draw federal investigations. A franchise booking a drag queen for a kid-adjacent splash zone gets social media fanfare and free train service.
Christian families have always had a particular affection for baseball — slow enough to talk through, warm enough to linger in, American enough to feel like common ground. The ballpark used to be one of those genuinely neutral spaces. A hot dog, a ball game, everybody in the same green seats.
The Orioles apparently decided neutrality wasn’t enough. Their Pride Night is about as subtle as Mr. Splash with a firehose. Families bringing children to Camden Yards on Friday night will figure that out quickly enough.
Read Next: MLB Pitcher Defends Giants’ Landon Roupp After Pride Night Controversy
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