Joliet Slammers to host Pride Night in support of the local LGBTQ community

Joliet — The Joliet Slammers, in conjunction with the Joliet Pride Network, will host Pride Night on Wednesday.

The Slammers will take on the Florence Y’alls at 6:35 p.m., while also welcoming members of the Joliet LGBTQ community in observance of Pride month.

Joliet Pride Network will be on hand at the game to hand out informational fliers and giveaways, and the team will be selling special pride t-shirts, with $5 of the proceeds from each shirt going to support Joliet Pride Network.

“It’s important for us as a team to be there for people in our community and to be inclusive,” said Slammers owner Night Train Veeck. “We feel its important to be inclusive, so we support Pride Night ant the LGBT community itself.”

Veeck noted that while the team has received some negative comments about the event on social media, it is not a large concern for the Slammers, “want to be a positive part of the conversation.”

“It’s the world we live in,” Veeck said. “I’ve seen all kinds of commentary. People have opinions and that’s fine, but we’ve also had a lot of positive comments and people telling us how much they want to come out and support it.”

Joliet Pride Network hosts events throughout the year aimed at supporting the LGBTQ community.

Earlier in June they partnered with Joliet Township for a Pride flag raising event, and on June 28, the group will host a Youth Queer Prom at the Joliet Historical Museum for LGBTQ community members between the ages of 12 and 20.