If you haven’t heard, the National Hockey League’s “Pride Night” has caused a bit of controversy as of late. In fact, it’s so controversial that according to the NHL’s commissioner, the whole thing might soon be nixed.
Like several other national sports leagues, NHL has recently chosen to support a few more “woke” ideas, such as celebrating the LBGTQ+ lifestyle. For the league, that basically equates to a certain period of time where players are encouraged to wear rainbow or pride jerseys during their pregame warm-ups.
But just as with the movement to kneel for the National Anthem, not all team members are that willing to participate.
For some, it’s a simple matter of faith. Christianity, in its many forms, for the most part, acknowledges that homosexuality is a sin. Therefore, it’s only reasonable that players who believe as such would not want to visibly support such a cause publicly.
For others, it’s more about keeping true to themselves and their individuality rather than conforming to what society tells them they need to do.
Ivan Provorov, a prominent player for the Philadelphia Flyers, is one of the latter and one of the first n the league to voice his opposition to wearing the rainbow jerseys.
In January, he told the press that he just wanted to warm up without all the fanfare and noise. He also noted that while respecting others’ choices and lifestyles, he prefers to say “true to myself and my religion.”
The leftist back media and its progressive allies naturally labeled him a homophobic bigot. And many demanded that he be kicked off the team and out of the city.
Similarly, James Reimer, a goalie for the San Jose Sharks, was smeared after refusing to wear the pride jersey earlier this month before his team against the New York Islanders. He explicitly cited his Christian faith.
He said in a statement that he, too, respected others’ wishes and had “no hate in his heart for anyone.” But that doesn’t mean he should be wearing a jersey that goes directly against his faith, which is the “highest authority in my life.”
Eric and Marc Staal, brothers who play for the Florida Panthers, took the same stance just last week, acknowledging that people should be free to make life choices as they see fit and that all people should “be welcome in all aspects of the game of hockey.” However, wearing such a jersey would go against their religious beliefs.
For their convictions, they have been blasted as homophobes and essentially blacklisted by a number of hockey fans.
But all the attention being drawn to their choice, which is no different than those choosing to be gay, lesbian, etc., is causing the league a pretty massive headache – so much so, in fact, that the whole “pride night” is at risk of being cut out completely.
I bet that’s not where these liberal sycophants hoped their complaints would lead to.
In any case, according to a recent interview with CTV Ottawa, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman indicated that all the efforts being made to point out who was and who wasn’t putting on the pride jerseys were becoming too much of a distraction from the point. And so, the event’s existence will likely be considered “in the offseason.”
Bettman was asked if it was a mistake to let each team decide on how to handle “Pride Night.” while not directly answering the question, he said it was simply something the league was “going to have to evaluate” soon.
He added that “for a variety of reasons,” not all players want to or feel comfortable wearing a uniform that literally endorses a political message. And unfortunately, the whole thing has become “more of a distraction now because the substance of what our teams and we have been doing and stand for is really being pushed to the side for what is a handful of players basically have made personal decisions.”
Bettman then clearly said, “and you have to respect that as well.”
Bettman knows that just as homosexuality is a choice, so is these players’ decision to not wear pride jerseys. It’s no less personal and, therefore, shouldn’t be ridiculed anymore.
Besides, the trend of “go woke, go broke” isn’t exactly a good business model.
