Sports are for everyone. Please watch our games and buy our merchandise… Unless you’re gay!
NHL, the National Hockey League, continues to handle its players with kid gloves or just doesn’t see a point in changing with the times. Rome wasn’t built in a day, however, and while the NHL continue to double-down on antigay or anti-inclusive ideas, at least other sports organizations have started trying to make their queer players or viewers feel a little more welcome in such a hyper-heterosexual climate.
NFL, the National Football League, passed a “law” in 2011 lobbing strict citations on anyone within the organization discriminating against other members based on sexual orientation. In 2022, Carl Nassib – the NFL’s first openly gay football player – donated $100,000 to the Trevor Project and the NFL matched his donation in a sign of solidarity. In 2022, the NFL partnered with GLAAD for a special event in support of the gays.
But then we have the NHL, who have elected to ban Pride Tape from their arenas due to its “distracting nature” on the ice. The decision was reportedly made in June by the NHL’s board of governors, but the decision is only coming to light now while the NHL prepares to launch its 2023-2024 season.
For a sport that routinely promotes drunken fights, smashing things against glass and other aggressive narratives, having to “protect” its members from rainbow colored tape seems a little… well… gay.
This comes on the heels of the NHL’s controversial 2022-2023 season, when players walked out of venues for being forced to wear Pride Jersey’s during Pride Month and outright refusing to attend scheduled Pride Night events.
Playing Devil’s Advocate for a second… I don’t eat seafood – besides shrimp and lobster – so I probably wouldn’t rock a pro-sea food shirt. However, when it comes to someone’s sexual orientation, which is a little more important than food preference, it seems a lot more discriminatory than it does neutral view.
Now that the NHL has banned Pride Jersey’s and Pride Tape, it’s only a matter of time before they start banning in-person viewers who paid for seats from wearing merchandise they purchased or made at home. In other words, the NHL is making a clear stance that they do not believe in gay rights and freedom of representation/speech.
Will they throw out queer spectators from their events who “look” gay next?
PS: NHL… I dated a minor league hockey player in 2011. So, not all of your players are straight.
Sources: NY Post, Homosexuality in American Football
I hooked up with a minor league player several times as well. Trust me there are definitely gay NHL players. He told me at least 3 that he knows personally. Though statistically there are way more.