The Nationals host their 21st Pride Night, the longest-running event in MLB

Every year, when the Nationals’ schedule comes out, James Hamblin marks his calendar for Pride Night. It doesn’t matter that he lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Hamblin, who identifies as gay, has been coming to the Nationals’ Pride Night — “Night OUT” since 2016. In 2018, his mother, Robbie Benson, started coming with him. They drive to Washington, spend the night and return the next morning.

For Hamblin, 50, and many other members of the LGBTQIA+ community who attended the event Wednesday night, it feels like a welcoming, safe environment to form meaningful bonds and celebrate.

It also serves as a protest.

“D.C. is a great city. I love coming here,” Hamblin said. “Present circumstances sort of make it a little more fraught. I think that makes it even more important to show up. ... We’re here to show people that we’re here. We’re not going anywhere, and I think it’s important to show up and show the team that we show up for events like this.”

The Nationals hosted their 21st Pride Night, the longest-running Pride event in Major League Baseball. They partnered with Team DC, a nonprofit focused on building welcoming spaces for members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Throughout the concourses, fans were decked out in Pride jerseys and outfits from previous iterations of Pride Night. This year’s jersey was a cropped light-blue one with “Nationals” in rainbow colors and rainbow-colored pinstripes going vertically down the jersey.

The pregame festivities continued on the field. The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., performed the national anthem. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, a gay health activist with a focus on infectious disease, threw the ceremonial first pitch.

In the deck below the video board in right-center, the party started well before any pitch was thrown. A group of fans cheered about 45 minutes before first pitch. Their backs were to the field, and they were focused on a drag show on the turf.

Tiffany Spears, 46, watched as one of the performers danced to “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND” by HYPATON and Raye. Spears, who identifies as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, came to Pride Night last season and returned this year because the event presented a comfortable environment.

“There’s been so many times where we don’t feel safe,” Spears said. “It’s very important to know that we can come in together as community.”

Less than two weeks ago, the Giants hosted a Pride Night at Oracle Park and had players wear hats with a rainbow Giants logo. Giants pitcher Landen Roupp wrote a Bible verse on his hat making reference to the rainbow. The discourse around the incident has continued since, as recently as Tuesday when Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey refused to answer questions about what transpired.

Some Nationals fans expressed disappointment, as well as relief it hadn’t happened with their team. Jenn Rubenstein, 44, has at times struggled to reconcile their fandom with what’s been expressed by players on the teams they cheer for.

Yet they’ve found community over the years from the queer baseball community they have found through social media. Rubenstein, a season ticket holder, has gathered groups specifically for Pride Nights since 2012, helping turn their friends into baseball fans. They also served on the Night Out Committee for years, too.

Rubenstein spoke about how much joy they took in the Nationals having a bobblehead of their mascot, Screech, holding a Pride flag as a regular giveaway a few years ago. As they continued to speak, someone walked up to them and complimented their rainbow socks. After a few jokes exchanged between the two, Rubenstein yelled “Happy Pride!”

“That’s a really good example of how awesome this is,” Rubenstein said. “It just feels like a continuation of the Pride festival, but in one of my favorite places on the planet, which is my home ballpark.”

Rubenstein and Hamblin met through social media and have remained friends over the years. Now, Hamblin has made even more friends.

Hamblin said, while he loves the event, there’s more that could be done. He’d love to see the team wearing Pride gear, though he doesn’t believe that will ever happen because of reactions like the Giants’ players had.

Still, he hopes his presence will help others express themselves and become fans of baseball.

“The fact that people on social media are talking about this event, talking about this game, it’s how it spreads the word,” Hamblin said. “It lets people know this really is a place where you can come and be yourself. If you’re a baseball fan, that’s a bonus. Plenty of people here aren’t baseball fans. I get that. But it’s cool that we’re exposing them to baseball as well, and maybe they’ll become fans.”