Rangers omit LGBTQ acknowledgment during MLB-wide Spirit Day initiative, frustrating advocates

The Rangers on Thursday tried to participate in an MLB-sponsored social-media initiative against bullying of LGBTQ teens without actually acknowledging the specific group Spirit Day was designed to support.

The club’s decision and continued official stance of not acknowledging the community publicly left the Rangers as a flashpoint on sports Twitter for a day, frustrating some of the team’s fans inside the LGBTQ community.

The day, observed on the third Thursday of October for the last decade, was initially started by Canadian teen Brittany McMillan as a response to a rash of bullying-related suicides of LBGTQ teens in 2010. McMillan wanted Spirit Day “to make one person feel a little bit better about his or herself and to feel safe enough in their own skin to be proud of who they are.”