The trouble isn’t with Reimer
San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer, a 35-year-old native of Morweena, Man., has been showered with heck-of-a-guy compliments since before he even broke into the NHL. “One of the NHL’S nicest players.” “Just about the nicest 22-yearold on the planet.” “The nicest guy in Toronto sports.” (Reimer played six seasons for the Maple Leafs, who drafted him in 2006.)
Throughout Reimer’s career, fans have heard how he’s always smiling, always positive, the ideal teammate. They’ve heard about the orphanage in Uganda that he founded and funded with family members, in honour of a cousin who died of cancer. As a child, Reimer even heroically saved a friend from drowning.
Fans have also heard much about Reimer’s devout Christian faith. “When you focus on all the crap that’s going on around you, then you’re going to sink,” Reimer told the Toronto Star in 2011. “But if you focus on Jesus, in my case, then all those things seem to fade away ... and you can do amazing things.”
As of Saturday, here’s what much of the hockey world is calling James Reimer: “Absolutely a homophobe,” “giant bigot,” “hateful,” “brainwashed.” On Twitter, University of Alberta political scientist Jared Wesley recalled seeing “blatant homophobia and transphobia” while growing up in Manitoba’s hockey barns, and accused Reimer of choosing “hate over compassion and understanding.” Reimer is “part of the problem,” Wesley added.
Citing his religious faith, Reimer declined to wear a Pride-themed Sharks sweater for the warm-ups to Saturday night’s game. “Jesus … asks me to love everyone and follow him. I have no hate in my heart for anyone, and I have always strived to treat everyone that I encounter with respect and kindness,” he said in a statement released through the Sharks’ social media. “I strongly believe that every person has value and worth, and the LGBTQIA+ community, like all others, should be welcomed in all aspects of the game of hockey.”
Nevertheless, Reimer said, “in this specific instance, I am choosing not to endorse something that is counter to my personal convictions, which are based on the Bible.”
Cue the disappointment, the outrage, the denunciations.
Many, including veteran NHL executive Brian Burke — president of the Leafs during Reimer’s tenure in Toronto — have expressed understandable frustration with this explanation. The whole point of the Pride jerseys, they say, is to signal (per Reimer) “that every person has value and worth, and the LGBTQIA+ community … should be welcomed in all aspects of the game of hockey.” Burke, perhaps hockey’s leading campaigner against homophobia, said he was “extremely disappointed” with Reimer’s decision.
It certainly wasn’t the clearest explanation. And it got worse during post-game interviews, when Reimer dragged Muslim former Leafs teammate Nazem Kadri into the fray. “I love him,” Reimer told reporters, but “people would understand if I wouldn’t be able to wear a Muslim jersey in warm-ups, promoting the Muslim faith. … (Kadri) himself would fully understand that.”
Does Reimer really think Pride jerseys are promoting homosexuality, rather than the acceptance of homosexual people? It almost seems like something Burke could have talked him out of over lunch, and it’s unfortunate if the Sharks didn’t at least try to set something like that up. This should not have come as a surprise.
On the other hand, Reimer might reasonably argue he doesn’t need any lessons on accepting homosexual people — and indeed loving them, as Christianity demands.
I was particularly struck by that “part of the problem” comment. However beneficial taking warm-ups in Pride-themed jerseys might be to the cause of eradicating homophobia from hockey, surely it pales compared to having compassionate, caring people in the league’s locker rooms. By all accounts, Reimer is one of those. A week ago, I would have tipped him as a player much more likely than average to stand up to homophobia among his teammates. My opinion hasn’t changed on that front — not despite his Christian faith, but because of it. (Many of my fellow atheists roll their eyes at the idea of a religious imperative to love and aid one’s fellow man — as if churches run all those homeless shelters and soup kitchens for fun and profit.)
I have seen many people admonish Reimer that there’s nothing in the Bible to justify his stance. I have also seen many people admonish Muslim women that there’s nothing in the Qur’an that compels them to wear a hijab. In Canada, we have a tradition of not interrogating people’s religious beliefs; we don’t ask for scriptural justification.
So long as your belief is sincere, so long as you’re not trying to impose your beliefs on anyone else, the courts of justice, politics and public opinion will generally back you up — and for good reason. You aren’t born with religion in the same way you’re born with race, gender or sexual orientation. But nor is religion simply “a choice,” the way one might choose what next to watch on Netflix. When you’re raised in a tight-knit religious community like Reimer (a Mennonite) was, you can’t just turn it off when your employer suddenly decides you should.
I have to wonder: How many truly homophobic Nhlers would be willing to wear the Pride jersey just because it’s easier than making a fuss — because they simply don’t care? I hope it’s fewer than I suspect. But I’m positive hurling abuse at James Reimer won’t make a single thing better for anyone.