Terri Hupfer moved to San Francisco in 1985 so she could live openly as a lesbian. Four decades later, the 66-year-old stood outside Oracle Park decked in rainbow Giants Pride gear and draped a transgender flag to root for her favorite baseball team in person — perhaps for the last time.

Sitting in the stands at Pride Night on Friday, June 12, Hupfer didn’t immediately spot what three Giants pitchers had written on their rainbow-colored caps. Later that evening, she discovered via social media that Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker, and Ryan Walker had inscribed Bible verse references in an apparent protest of the team’s Pride Night celebration. 

Before Tuesday’s game, president of baseball operations Buster Posey was asked three times about the controversy at a press conference and declined each time. “There’s differing perspectives,” he said. “Out of respect to everybody involved, it’s not something I’m going to revisit.” Neither the Giants nor Major League Baseball has disciplined the players, nor do they plan to.

Hupfer was so offended by the players’ actions that she is withholding her fandom until further notice. Her first thought: “How did management allow this?” She had already gotten tickets to Tuesday’s game, but planned to boo those three pitchers if she saw them on the mound. She wondered whether Posey or the league would stay silent if players refused to wear No. 42 on Jackie Robinson Day, and whether gay fans simply mattered less. 

The Giants returned to Oracle Park on Tuesday after more than a week on the road — and at the center of a culture war. In their absence, Commissioner Rob Manfred issued a letter defending the league, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission opened a potential probe into whether MLB had violated the pitchers’ religious freedom. Inside the ballpark, though, it felt just like any other game. Perhaps that would have been different if any of the three pitchers had been called from the bullpen.

Hupfer was one of about a dozen protesters gathered outside the ballpark before the first pitch expressing their disdain for the Giants organization and pitchers they called “bigots.” They stoically held signs and gamely gave quotes, but the crowd of reporters outnumbered them. 

Brian Armbruster said the pitchers’ protest had gotten under his skin — so much so that he’s started turning off the radio broadcasts. He doesn’t plan on attending any games anytime soon.

“I never had any illusions that professional athletes shared my politics. Baseball is an escape, and then here’s the culture war right here,” he said, adding it was “MAGA creeping into my baseball team.” 

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Armbruster went on. “Talk about snowflake — what’s more snowflake than that?” he said. “I don’t understand why people have a problem with gay people. It doesn’t affect you.”

Some fans noted that tamping down LGBTQ pride in a city known for its friendliness to the community made little sense. 

“They are in the entertainment industry,” said 70-year-old Ann Marie Murphy. “Know your customer.” 

Plenty of those outside the park, though, either didn’t know about the Pride Night controversy or didn’t feel too strongly either way. 

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Maritza Mendez, 21, who lives in the Central Valley, answered the question about the inscription with a shrug. “People believe what they believe,” she said. “To each their own.”

Monica Montoya, who traveled from Modesto with her husband for the game, thought the players had an obligation to support the Giants’ Pride Night initiative. “They are part of MLB,” she said. “They should do what they are asked to do — part of being a team player.”

Darian Shattuck, 30, traveled into town from Oregon to visit family. She identified as bisexual but said she could understand why the pitchers might have bristled at wearing the Pride caps. “I am all for being an advocate for the community, but I feel like it is being pushed on others a little hard,” she said, gesturing to the rainbow-colored trees outside the ballpark.

The feeling from many fans, though, was disappointment that players on a team representing a city famed for its open-mindedness would take such a stance. “Redneck fucking losers did this,” a fan named Steve said.

One young fan offered a simpler verdict: “As long as they win, I don’t care.”

The Giants beat the A’s 3-1.