MLB Rookie Hazing — Cross-Dressing Sends Dangerous Message … Says LGBT Org.

EXCLUSIVE

A powerful LGBT group — backed by some HUGE athletes — is calling for MLB teams to quit hazing rookies by forcing them to cross-dress … because it sends a perilous message to kids.

Several teams — including the Oakland As, Miami Marlins and Chicago Cubs — dressed their rookies up in women’s clothing and paraded them around this week as part of a hazing tradition that’s been going on for years. 

Enter Hudson Taylor — head of Athlete Ally — an organization that promotes LGBT acceptance in sports. Taylor says the cross-dressing ritual is designed to embarrass the players … which reinforces the message that men in women’s clothing is something to be mocked. 

“Requiring rookies to dress in feminine presenting clothing like wigs, dresses, and bikinis sends a strong and perilous message that being a girl, woman, or feminine is somehow less than, and something to be mocked.”

“Regardless of intent, as long as professional athletes participate in hazing of this kind, they will be continuing to perpetuate a culture that isolates, excludes, and marginalizes the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and female athletes.”

Athlete Ally has more than 130 pro athletes on its “ambassador” roster — including Andy Roddick, Abby Wambach, Kenneth Faried, Martina Navratilova, Donte Stallworth, James Blake, Sydney Leroux and Megan Rapinoe.