{"id":3426,"date":"2026-06-30T23:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T23:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3426"},"modified":"2026-06-30T23:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T23:38:13","slug":"letters-players-should-have-freedom-not-to-observe-pride-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3426","title":{"rendered":"Letters: Players should have freedom not to observe Pride Night"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p><em><strong>Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Why aren\u2019t players free not to observe Pride?<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cPride Night pain lingers\u201d (Page A1, June 25).<\/p>\n<p>Enough already.\u00a0 A few baseball players write a Bible verse on their caps, and it\u2019s five days of headlines of \u201clingering pain\u201d \u2014 and (of course) the mandatory accusations of bigotry and hate for those who express a politically incorrect perspective.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3424\">Letters: Plaintiffs in lawsuit could learn from LGBTQ community<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Imagine the \u201cpain and hurt\u201d of being forced to publicly support a viewpoint in total opposition to your own beliefs? Do we not realize we can accept all people without overtly applauding all their behaviors? How immature are we when a simple difference of opinion causes us \u201clingering pain\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>Anyone who wants to celebrate \u201cpride\u201d is free to do so \u2014 and others should be equally free to refrain. I remember reading about something closely associated with pride that usually follows it.\u00a0 It escapes me at the moment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stacy Spink<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Castro Valley<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Public instruction is to blame for decline<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cLoss of multilingual students drives down enrollment\u201d (Page A1, June 22).<\/p>\n<p>An interesting article, it explains how \u201cmultilingual\u201d students affect public schools in California. But the article\u2019s headline is misleading. The headline would lead one to believe that speaking two languages would matter, one way or another, to the drop in public school attendance.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Parents have been avoiding public schools for years now. They have realized that, in California, the kids are getting indoctrination instead of instruction. I believe the teachers\u2019 unions have a lot to do with this. These unions are controlled by left-wing influences that promote left-wing, anti-American agendas. They push DEI and \u201cwoke\u201d mantras instead of traditional curricula.<\/p>\n<p>During the COVID lockdowns, parents were able to witness first-hand that their kids were being groomed with radical political and social theories. So, they are yanking their kids out of public schools in favor of schools that promote education.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jay Todesco<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Concord<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Trillionaire Musk could step in when US leaves<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cSouth African groups warn of dire HIV impact as U.S. exits\u201d (Page A4, June 25).<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>From the article, I learned that South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV, 8 million.<\/p>\n<p>Since Elon Musk is now a trillionaire, perhaps he could see it in his heart to help his homeland. Our government has been sending aid to the country for 20 years to help battle HIV, saving 20 million lives. The most vulnerable are women and adolescent girls.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3423\">\u2018Deeply disturbing\u2019: Sheriff details mass graves, missing dogs in Miranda\u2019s Rescue investigation<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The U.S. program is about to be phased out. Could someone let Elon know?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Shirley McGrath<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Walnut Creek<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Fire prevention is as important as response<\/h4>\n<p>Re: \u201cFire breaks out in the foothills east of San Jose\u201d (June 24).<\/p>\n<p>The recent vegetation fire in the South Bay\u2019s eastern foothills has raised important questions that deserve more attention.<\/p>\n<p>While news coverage often focuses on how quickly firefighters contain a fire, there is less reporting about what happens afterwards. What steps are firefighters and Bay Area officials taking to prevent another fire from occurring in the same area? Are there enough resources dedicated to vegetation management, public education and fire prevention throughout the Bay Area?<\/p>\n<p>Residents deserve to know what proactive measures are being taken before another emergency happens. Prevention is just as important as emergency response, yet it receives less attention.<\/p>\n<p>The paper should investigate this issue by asking fire officials what prevention strategies are in place and whether additional funding or community involvement is needed. Keeping the public informed about fire prevention is just as important as reporting on the fire itself.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cierra Martinez<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Pleasanton<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>State leaders target smart local growth<\/h4>\n<p>This month,  of Contra Costa County voters passed Measure A, reaffirming the County\u2019s \u201cUrban Limit Line.\u201d It was a ringing endorsement of smart growth, directing new development inward toward infrastructure-rich existing cities while protecting open space. Neighboring Solano County has had a similar \u201cOrderly Growth\u201d policy since 1984.<\/p>\n<p>Right now, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature are holding backroom discussions to override Solano County\u2019s smart growth policies\u00a0as a favor to a few billionaire developers. They want to develop a \u201cCalifornia Forever\u201d the size of Stockton in Solano County\u2019s dedicated open space. Neither Solano County government nor its citizens have a voice or a vote in these deliberations.<\/p>\n<p>Californians, wake up. If Sacramento overrides Solano\u2019s orderly growth law to accommodate a few wealthy developers, no urban growth boundary is safe. The principle of smart growth will be dead, and the bad old days of urban sprawl will run amok.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3421\">What a historic blouse tells us about Sarah Winchester<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Deiss<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Vallejo<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Also: Enrollment decline | Trillionaire Musk | Fire prevention | Local ordinances targeted. East Bay Times reader letters to the editor for July 1, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Letters: Players should have freedom not to observe Pride Night - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=3426\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Letters: Players should have freedom not to observe Pride Night - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Also: Enrollment decline | Trillionaire Musk | Fire prevention | Local ordinances targeted. 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