As the season is coming to an end, we have seen many types of promotions within the Hockey community. Not only the National Hockey League has promoted many recent movements and awareness, such as Cancer awareness, Black Lives Matter, and even LGBTQ awareness. One thing that struck out to me is the LGBTQ awareness within the NHL. I, myself, am a supporter of the LGBTQ community because my beloved girlfriend is Bisexual but we both love each other very much. Not only do I have close loved ones in the community, but also have friends that are supporters as well. However, you don’t hear many players being a part of that community, however, one player, Luke Prokop, a Milwaukee Admirals player, and AHL affiliate for the Nashville Predators, has been open with himself and the league. In this blog, I will be talking about the highs and lows of the NHL and the LGBTQ community. We will be discussing the ban and lift of the pride tape and warmup jerseys as well.
(This Link will show another source of what I found about this topic)
Though the NHL supports the LGBTQ community, having included Pride Night for any teams that wish to participate, this past summer they have banned Pride Tape for the 2023/2024 season. To the NHL, this is what they said; “The league told ESPN that the ban on Pride tape was to prevent teams and players from using it as an “end-around” to violate the new uniform policy.” (ESPN 2023, October 24). Some of the players were against this fact, even some teams. In the same Article, Connor McDavid even announced this quote to ESPN. “I’ve expressed disappointment in not being able to wear the various jerseys or the tapes … whether that’s Pride tape or pink tape,” McDavid said. “Is it something that I’d like to see back into place one day? Certainly.” (ESPN 2023, October 24)
Later on into the season, the Gary Bettman, commissioner of the NHL, lifted the ban of ‘Pride Tape” and Pride jerseys for warmups even some arenas have lit up for Pride Night. On the Carolina Hurricanes and the Pittsburgh Penguins social media page, they have posts for when they celebrated Pride Night in their own promotion dates and special night. Overall, this topic when I first saw this struck me as a bit hurt, however interesting as well. Not only this topic can be controversial, but also a topic that is very open and not a closed discussion.
References1
- NHL reverses new ban on Pride tape in warmups. (2023, October 24). ESPN.com. https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/38734725/nhl-reverses-new-ban-pride-tape-warmups
Cretaz, Frankie de la. “Opinion: The NHL Shows Why There Are so Few Openly Gay Athletes in Men’s Sports.” CNN, 11 Oct. 2023, www.cnn.com/2023/10/11/opinions/nhl-pride-tape-ban-coming-out-day-de-la-cretaz/index.html.
Zeigler, Cyd. “The NHL Has Banned Pride Tape, Creating Its Own “Don’t Say Gay” Policy on the Ice.” OutSports, www.outsports.com/2023/10/9/23907582/nhl-gay-lgbtq-pride-tape-drag-queen-national-anthem-player-boycott/.
https://www.npr.org/2023/10/12/1205476006/nhl-bans-pride-tape-backlash#:~:text=What’s%20the%20context%20of%20the,military%2C%20and%20people%20fighting%20cancer.
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