Major League Baseball Bans Drag Hazing

Mic.com reports:

Starting next season, there’ll be a new rule in baseball: No more dressing the new guys in drag. On Tuesday, Major League Baseball is set to ratify a new anti-hazing and anti-bullying policy meant to end a sexist and transphobic tradition in the sport, which bans veteran players from forcing new team members dress as women.

The rules prohibit “requiring, coercing or encouraging” rookie players from “dressing up as women or wearing costumes that may be offensive to individuals based on their race, sex, nationality, age, sexual orientation, gender identify or other characteristic,” the Associated Press reports.

A practice that has grown more outlandish and more public over the years, baseball’s ritual of requiring rookies to wear costumes has long been a hallmark of hazing in the league. However, the demand that players wear outfits that play on racial stereotypes as well as women’s clothing — including anything from orange Hooters shorts to cheerleader uniforms, to leotards reminiscent of the U.S. Women’s Olympic Gymnastic team’s — has finally elicited an official response from the league.