Oakland A’s pitcher Sean Doolittle and his girlfriend Eireann Dolan decided to turn lemons into lemonade after negative responses surfaced on social media about the Oakland A’s first ever LGBT Pride night.
Some season ticket holders commented how they wanted to sell their tickets because they didn’t support the LGBT Pride night, so Dolan and Doolittle bought them.
Dolan was raised by two mothers, both of whom are huge fans of the A’s.
Dolan wrote on her blog in reaction to the responses on social media that she was “disheartened to see a handful of responses on social media from people who, for whatever reason, do not support this night of inclusion and community.”
Dolan planned to buy the unwanted tickets and donate them to the Our Space LGBTQI Community Center for teens and young adults for the June 17 LGBT Pride night game against the San Diego Padres.
A GoFundMe page was setup to raise money to purchase tickets from season holders that did not wish to attend, and donate overflow funds to other local LGBT groups to fill the rest of the stadium. The set goal of $6,000 was reached within the first day.
“We are hopeful that the support that has been expressed for the event in the past few days will make it an even more successful first-year event and demonstrate that the A’s organization welcomes and supports the inclusion of all fans,” said a statement released by the A’s.
