AThe Buffalo Gay Men’s Choir sang on the ice, the colorful flags of the LGBTQ scene waved outside in front of the arena, and the pros of the National Hockey League (NHL) wore jerseys with the large chest logo surrounded by rainbow colors during the warm-up. “Pride Night” was the motto on Monday at the Buffalo Sabers, only one did not take part. Ilya Lyubuschkin made no sign, because the Russian faces consequences.
The Kremlin’s law against “gay propaganda,” signed into law by President Vladimir Putin in December, means there is repeated noise when teams in the North American professional league want to campaign for sexual equality. For example, the Chicago Blackhawks did not wear the Pride jerseys at the weekend due to “safety concerns”, the players were disappointed.
Ivan Provorov of the Philadelphia Flyers had already boycotted the warm-up in the rainbow jersey in January – albeit for different reasons. “My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion. That’s all I’m going to say about that,” the defender explained.
He was still allowed to play, just like Lyubushkin. And like James Reimer of the San Jose Sharks. The Canadian also only went onto the ice before the face-off, so he made a statement. “I have been a Christian for all 13 years of my NHL career. I have personal faith in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for my sins,” the goalie shared, while stressing that in his heart he has “no hatred for anyone.”
It was similar with Eric and Marc Staal from the Florida Panthers. “We don’t judge how people live their lives and believe everyone should be welcome in hockey,” the brothers said. But in her opinion, wearing rainbow colors cannot be reconciled with faith.
San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer cites religious reasons for not warming up in the rainbow jersey.
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Image: AP
The league and the clubs go to great lengths to pay attention to people from the LGBTQ community, to make it obvious to the outside world that they belong to society like everyone else. It was to be expected that some would not participate.
“I can’t judge the psychological burden he has to carry,” said Sabers captain Kyle Okposo when asked about Lyubushkin’s decision. The team respected his decision, but the “Pride Night” was “extremely important. We want to make it clear that everyone is accepted,” said German striker John-Jason Peterka’s teammate, appearing cautiously optimistic. “As a society, we continue to struggle with this, but it’s getting better.”
