When it comes to Pride, NHL on wrong side
There are moments in a league’s history when they are clearly on the wrong side of it. When they make a decision that isn’t just foolish but morally wrong. This is where the NHL is right now.
The NHL recently sent a memo to its teams clarifying what players are allowed to do during theme celebrations this season. One of the actions it took was ban the use of rainbowcolored stick tape for Pride Nights. Pride Nights, unbelievably, have become a controversial issue in the league.
The guidance doesn’t solely apply to Pride. It also states that on-ice player uniforms and gear for games, warmups and official team practices can’t be altered to reflect theme nights, including Pride, Hockey Fights Cancer or military appreciation celebrations. Players can participate in themed celebrations off the ice if they choose.
To be clear, NHL teams will have Pride Nights, but this represents a chipping away at the advance the NHL has made in recent years in backing the LGBTQ community and players.
So why did the NHL do this? The league, I believe, is trying to satisfy a strong anti-LGBTQ element that exists in professional hockey (and across other sports) and also among the fans who watch the sport. They could have easily just done nothing. That’s what makes this action so reprehensible.
Putting rainbow-colored tape on the blade of a stick is a meaningful gesture and show of support for members of the LGBTQ community both inside and outside of the sport. The fact the NHL won’t even allow this small move says a great deal about what the NHL thinks about LGBTQ players.
You don’t need to take my word for it about the wrongness of this decision. Listen to the players, former executives and others who say the same.
Said former NHL executive Brian Burke: “This is not inclusion or progress. Fans look to teams and the league to show they are welcome, and this directive closes a door that’s been open for the last decade. Make no mistake, this is a surprising and serious setback.”
Burke, on X, made one of the more important points about why the NHL did this. It was to appeal to the few people who don’t want the league to be inclusive. “This decision has stripped clubs of a powerful community outreach tool and removed meaningful support for special Initiatives, all to protect a select few who do not want to answer any questions about their choices,” Burke said. “I hope the NHL reconsiders in order to remain a leader in DEI.”
“You’ll probably see me with the Pride tape on that night,” said Philadelphia’s Scott Laughton. “I don’t know, I didn’t read really what it said, if it’s a ban or something, but I’ll probably have it on. We’ll see what they say, but it’s not gonna affect the way I go about it. If they want to say something, they can.”
While the NHL union, as far as I can tell, has remained silent, the Professional Women’s Hockey League Players Association, headed by Burke, has not. Neither did the Alphabet Sports Collective, which pushes for a safe and inclusive environment in hockey for all.
The You Can Play Project, which advocates for LGBTQ participation in sports and has worked extensively with the NHL, said in a statement: “If Hockey is for Everyone, this is not the way forward.”
“It is now clear that the NHL is stepping back from its longstanding commitment to inclusion, and continuing to unravel all of its one-time industryleading work on 2SLGBTQ+ belonging,” the organization said. “We are now at a point where all the progress made, and relationships established with our community, is in jeopardy.
Making decisions to eradicate our visibility in hockey – by eliminating symbols like jerseys and now Pride Tape – immediately stunts the impact of bringing in more diverse fans and players into the sport.”
I know what some of you are going to say.
Let the players do what they want. Don’t force “their” lifestyle on everyone. This is America. Freedom. Apple pie. Etc.
But the NHL knows better. The league knows it’s not about any of that. The league is doing this out of fear with a select few, as Burke said, making these decisions to appeal to anti-LGBTQ forces, and those people making the decisions aren’t standing in front of the cameras and answering questions on why. They won’t because they’re cowards.
This story is about inclusion, of course, but in some ways it’s about something simpler: decency. The NHL had a moment to be decent. It could have fought the uglier base instincts that rule us all. They didn’t. They caved.
And this is why the NHL is on the wrong side of history.