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UMass trolls conservative Liberty University by scheduling “Pride Day” for their game

UMass announced that their Pride Day will be during their game against Liberty University
UMass announced that their Pride Day will be during their game against Liberty University Photo: Screenshot

The University of Massachusetts’s football team picked an appropriate match for their upcoming Pride Day: their October 8 home game against the Christian conservative and anti-LGBTQ Liberty University.

“Special announcement,” reads a message on the team’s Twitter account. “Our game vs. Liberty on October 8 will be #PrideDay!!”

The accompanying video shows a football player surrounded by rainbow lights.

Liberty University — which was founded by Jerry Falwell, one of the 20th century’s most powerful evangelicals — is one of the most notoriously anti-LGBTQ schools in the country.

Their code of conduct, dubbed “The Liberty Way,” prohibits “statements and behaviors that are associated with LGBT states of mind,” which includes holding hands with a member of the same sex or using pronouns that don’t correspond to one’s sex assigned at birth. The Liberty Way even says students should go out of their way to “avoid the appearance of impropriety” when it comes to LGBTQ identity.

On Twitter, UMass fans noticed that for their Pride Day their team is playing against the team that probably would never celebrate Pride otherwise. Others bemoaned the choice, saying that it is inappropriate to make Liberty’s team participate in a Pride celebration because the school is Christian.

 

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