Former Houston Astros baseball player Lance Berkman said he was a victim of online “persecution” for being a vocal opponent of the so-called “bathroom ordinance” that Houston voters overwhelmingly (61%-39%) rejected on Tuesday.
“First of all as a Christian, I felt that I had an obligation to stand for what is right,” Berkman reportedly told a Houston radio show on Wednesday. “I am about articulating my belief system and taking a stand for it when I have the opportunity.”
The Campaign for Houston, which opposed the ordinance, featured Berkman in an ad in which he said:
No men in women’s bathrooms. No boys in girls’ showers or locker rooms. I played professional baseball for 15 years, but my family is more important. My wife and I have four daughters. Proposition 1, the bathroom ordinance, would allow troubled men to enter women’s public bathrooms, showers, and locker rooms. This would violate their privacy and put them in harm’s way.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Berkman called into KTRH 740 AM’s “The Michael Berry Show” and said though he was insulated from some of the digital “persecution” because he does not have social media accounts like Twitter and Facebook, he saw some of the vile stuff that was being said about him and his family when he Googled the coverage surrounding the “bathroom ordinance.”
As Breitbart Texas reported, Houston voters “rejected Mayor Annise Parker’s ordinance proposal that would have allowed men to enter women’s bathrooms, showers and changing areas based on gender identification. The HERO (Houston Equal Rights Ordinance) proposition was rejected by a vote of 61 to 39 percent with 95 percent of the ballots counted. Parker is Houston’s first openly gay mayor.”
Parker taunted Berkman on Twitter before the vote, and Berkman said he “didn’t expect the mayor to make a personal attack” and “I didn’t expect her to talk about my girls or my family.” Sports journalists also targeted Berkman, calling his stance against the ordinance “vile” and an example of “intolerance.”
Berkman also blasted the double standards that exist regarding cultural issues in today’s politically correct society.
“What’s become a shame is that it seems like anybody who has an opinion that comes more from right immediately gets castigated, called a bigot, by voicing that opinion,” Berkman said, pointing out that it is “irritating” that when it comes to the other side, “we’re expected to pander to that and treat them with respect.”
Berkman played Major League Baseball for 15 years and “is currently the head baseball coach at Second Baptist High School,” according to the Chronicle. His ad against the “bathroom ordinance” can be seen below:
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