Gay hockey players nhl

Are you a rainbow flag? All of us are entitled to express our opinions, including those that many consider loathsome. I look forward to sharing the ice with you someday. Pleasing one side risks angering the other. Yet do players who embrace what many regard as homophobia in the name of their religion really expect to remain unscathed?

We strongly feel hockey is for everybody, and that includes the Pride nights. Hungary deepened its repression of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people on March 18 as the parliament passed a draconian law that will outlaw Pride. There’s far more support for openly gay players among the NHL’s elite than just Matthews and Marchand.

Even so, ducking culture wars seems to be NHL policy now. This report documents the range of abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students in secondary school. Municipal officials in the town of Łańcut, Poland, have abolished the country’s last remaining “LGBT Ideology Free” zone, righting more than five years of political assault on.

I know in Edmonton, we were one of the first teams to use the Pride tape. Just On February 15, Muhsin Hendricks, an openly gay imam, Islamic scholar and LGBT rights activist was shot and killed in Gqeberha, South Africa as he was leaving to. If you need anything, let me know.

This piece would be meaningless without paying tribute to the NHL’s only openly gay player under contract. It's the same thing he wants the NHL and the rest of the world to know: He is gay. Without a doubt, players refusing to wear the jerseys will suffer the wrath of many fans.

In fact, in the years since I wrote that article, it looks like the NHL has run for cover when confronted by the major social issues of the day.

closeted nhl players

Guys would accept it. And as is their right, they may exact a price when you voice those views in word or deed. Banning Pride jerseys and other gear is not something that only the NHL has done. Surely the NHL could have made wearing the jerseys optional. You never know what the reaction is going to be inside hockey, outside hockey, because no one has done it before.

After being drafted in by the Nashville Predators, the forward changed the landscape of professional men’s hockey forever by coming out on social media. Because you're representing all my desires During the quiet of the springtime sports shutdowns, two well-known NHL players, Stanley Cup champion Dustin Penner and winger Brendan Leipsic, were caught posting horribly homophobic.

I did not expect the amount of support I got from NHL players. And when it comes to hockey, he is believed to be the first openly gay support staff member on an NHL bench. Why do the objections of just a handful of players to sporting Pride jerseys trump the wish of most NHLers to wear them once a year?

It details widespread bullying and. He shares his story of why he felt like he could come out to the Kraken. What's the most beautiful place you've ever been Just over three years ago, I wrote a piece for The Hockey Writers that argued an inclusive NHL was waiting with open arms to welcome its first openly gay player.

Still, the decision is puzzling.

gay hockey players nhl

Feeling adventurous Many gay male hockey players and officials came out on Outsports this year. That would have solved their Russian problem. It was an unprecedented move for the then year-old prospect. So, in that time has one managed to crack an NHL lineup and has the NHL become more welcoming to gay players living out in the open?

No openly gay player has ever skated in the NHL. The league says it is welcoming to gay players, but its ban on Pride jerseys says otherwise. Within hours of returning to power Monday, United States President Donald Trump issued a stunningly broad executive order that seeks to dismantle crucial protections for.

Alluding to the handful of players who declined to wear Pride jerseys for religious reasons, Bettman seemed to suggest that the ban was put in place out of respect for religious freedom. Seattle's assistant athletic trainer decided to tell players and staff of the team that he is gay.

Too often in professional men’s hockey, we hear negative stories surrounding the sport’s relationship with the LGBTQ+ community – a team cancels a Pride Night due to fears of backlash, a homophobic player refuses to wear a Pride-themed jersey, or the very league itself imposes a ban on any shows of support towards marginalized communities.

Even so, how can the NHL be tolerant of intolerance? The question this raises for many is why the NHL seems less willing than its players to embrace those skaters who are openly gay. Together, they’re making the sport’s atavistic culture more inclusive.

year-old Prokop, the first openly gay player with a contract under the NHL, penned a thoughtful message about players in the league who have opposed wearing pride jerseys or using rainbow. In my article, I noted the many NHLers, past and present, who have been big.