The girlfriend of an Oakland Athletics player is raising donations for tickets to the team's first Pride Night.
Eireann Dolan, girlfriend for A's pitcher Sean Doolittle, plans to donate the tickets to LGBTQ youth living in a shelter.
"I hope to see every seat full," Dolan said.
There have been mixed reactions to the A's announcing Pride Night in June. Some fans have made homophobic comments on social media.
For Dolan, who has two moms and a dad, the negative reaction is personal.
"When I saw the negative comments I thought of how nervous my mom was to tell me," she said. "I thought 'I hope people going there are not as nervous as she was for not being accepted for who they are.'"
Dolan and other fans have countered the negative comments by showing their support for the LGBTQ community online. Dolan is also taking it a step further by offering to buy the tickets from fans who said they do not want to attend Pride Night.
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Rebecca Rolfe, executive director for the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, said homophobia in the Bay Area is disheartening and not surprising.
"We sometimes believe here in San Francisco we don't have a problem with homophobia and transphobia," Rolfe said. "But in fact we do. We have the same problems here as anywhere else in the country."
In a statement Tuesday night, the team said it hopes the event is a successful night that shows fans the organization welcomes all fans.
