Marcus Stroman’s $20,000 Pride month donations show the Chicago Cubs pitcher ‘wants to be more than an ally’

An unexpected call from Roc Nation’s sports division came through to Brave Space Alliance early Thursday.

Shortly before Chicago Cubs pitcher Marcus Stroman’s Pride month posts went live on his social media pages, his agency reached out to the Black- and trans-led LGBTQ+ nonprofit based in Chicago. Stroman, the organization was told, was donating $20,000 to Brave Space Alliance to aid its work on the South and West sides.

“I’m going to be very frank: It saves lives — $20,000 saves lives,” Brave Space Alliance deputy CEO Jae Rice told the Tribune. “We save lives. We perpetuate in dignity. Dignity is our biggest resource that we give out to folks. It’s an LGBTQ center that wants to make sure that folks aren’t just thriving, they are dignified in the way that they thrive and live their lives.”

Among Brave Space Alliance’s largest initiatives is a Hyde Park food pantry. It spends nearly $10,000 a month to run it, including network sites to provide food around the city. The nonprofit also features a gender-affirming room known as the dignity suite. Trans people can choose items to affirm their gender — clothes, binders, packing or gaff underwear, makeup, wigs, shaving cream, beard oil — all for free.

“One of the biggest barriers for trans folks is that, OK, you’ve decided that you’re going to live your truth. Getting a new wardrobe is expensive. Makeup is expensive. These items that you’ve never had to get before are expensive,” Rice said. “That’s our second-biggest program.”

Stroman researched and found three LGBTQ+ nonprofit organizations to donate to in honor of Pride month, one in each city he has represented during his nine-year big-league career: The 519 in Toronto, Hetrick-Martin Institute in New York and Brave Space Alliance in Chicago, which was founded five years ago during a trans liberation march.

“It’s very sad and weird to me how people can have such hate for a group of people. They’re no different than any of us,” Stroman told the Tribune. “So, yeah, any opportunity I get to support or to show them that I’m there with them, I’m always going to do that.

“Unfortunately baseball culture and how a lot of people think in baseball from top down, it’s pretty scary. Even throwing out that ‘Love is love’ (on Twitter), like I tell people, just go through the comments yourself and that just shows where baseball is.”

Stroman’s public support of the LGBTQ+ community resonates beyond the sport at a time when trans people in particular have been targeted through states’ legislation.

“It means that he wants to be more than an ally at this point — you’re a comrade and you’re an advocate, you’re an accomplice. And that is what we need right now,” Rice said. “We need our allies to evolve to the point where you are taking a public stand, you’re using your platforms to say, ‘No, not here in Illinois, not here in Chicago.’

“Because we are surrounded by states who have anti-LGBTQ legislation, Illinois has become a refugee state for medical refugees, folks who are seeking not only gender-affirming care, but abortions and things like that too. So this is a really organic and intentional way to reiterate Chicago’s dedication and Illinois’ dedication to our community as a whole.”

Stroman said he was very bothered by Blue Jays reliever Anthony Bass sharing a video on social media last week that advocated for anti-LGBTQ+ boycotts of companies such as Target and Anheuser-Busch.

This followed the Los Angeles Dodgers uninviting, then re-inviting, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to their Pride Night on June 16. Controversy arose when U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence claimed the nonprofit’s members dressing as Catholic nuns is offensive.

Washington Nationals and former Cubs pitcher Trevor Williams posted a statement May 30 on Twitter objecting to the Dodgers’ decision to again include the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, which has fundraised and worked in the LGTBQ+ community since 1979.

“I’m a big believer everyone’s equal,” Stroman said. “It doesn’t matter who that person decides to love. It’s still a human being at the end of the day. How I see people talking about it, I want to support them even more. Going through my mentions and seeing how people are, it’s a very toxic world we live in.

“I do things in the moment with how I feel, and that’s how I felt.”

The Cubs will host their annual Pride celebration next Tuesday at Wrigley Field. The team will make a donation to the Legacy Project — a Chicago-based cultural and education nonprofit centered on researching and promoting the contributions of LGBTQ+ individuals — to support the creation of a bronze memorial marker in honor of Glenn Burke, the first openly gay MLB player. The marker will be displayed on the Legacy Walk in Lake View.

A Pride market, featuring LGBTQ-owned and -friendly businesses, will be open from 4:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Gallagher Way outside Wrigley. Pride flags will fly around the Wrigley marquee through June.

“I look forward to our Pride Celebration every year,” co-owner Laura Ricketts said in a statement announcing the team’s Pride events. “The Cubs have celebrated and championed the LGBTQ+ community for decades, not just during Pride Month, but all year round. I’m honored to represent both the Cubs organization and the LGBTQ+ community and serve as an advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Second baseman Nico Hoerner wanted to highlight Stroman’s initiative and the step he’s taking to support the LGBTQ+ community by sharing the pitcher’s post to his own Instagram story Friday. It was Hoerner’s way of appreciating Stroman’s vocal and financial support.

“Baseball is a game that should be for everybody to enjoy,” Hoerner told the Tribune. “It’s a space that I hope is open to all types of people. I don’t think me sharing anything is that big of a statement, but if there is an opportunity for a fan out there to feel like they’re included and appreciated in our game, that’s significant.

“It’s kind of a no-brainer for me, but I know there’s been some controversy lately with the stuff in LA. I just hope that baseball feels like a game that’s approachable for all types of people.”

Hoerner’s public acknowledgment was not lost on Stroman.

“He’s someone who really gets life, I feel like, from all angles, and that’s something that’s missing in this game,” Stroman said. “Sometimes baseball players or athletes, people forget to be human beings and just go through life thinking that we’re human beings, not just these people that play a sport for a living. So Nico’s very conscious of that.”

Aside from Stroman’s impactful donation, Brave Space Alliance receives grants, though the essence of its funding comes from small, reoccurring monthly donations ranging from $5 to $100.

“That speaks volumes to the political climate of Chicago,” Rice said. “We are all realizing that our liberation is all connected and that the way we become free and liberated is if we’re all free and liberated. It’s close to my heart that most of our funding is from our Chicago living folks who just want to support what we’re doing.”

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