He's been playing in one of the most progressive US cities for the first 7 years of his NHL career, please spare me this bullshit, it's not like he's an 18 year old coming from a country over that's less inviting to LGBT views. And he's played in pride night games before so why was tonight any different? What's the difference him wearing a jersey this time when it had stick tape from last year's game? The people defending him are outing themselves worse than he did. That's the last I'm gonna say, not trying to hijack this thread or make it tougher for mods to clean up this site.
According to the Philly board, this is the first time they asked players to wear pride jerseys in warmups. Last year, there was the option to have rainbow stick tape, but Provorov declined. So, at the very least he's been consistent.
I will defend his choice not to wear the jersey. If you want to jump to conclusions about what that means about me personally, without knowing me, my beliefs or how I treat people than so be it.
People seem to be missing the point of pride night. The point isn’t to say “I wish I was gay” or anything like that. It’s also not trying to make a political point.
Pride nights (and other similar) are meant to create an inclusive culture in hockey where people aren’t bullied and shut out just for being who they are. By not wearing the jersey, Provorov is implicitly supporting the bullying, name calling, violence, etc.
You can say that’s not what he’s explicitly doing, but there’s no doubt about what his action means. And that’s why he’s being a bad guy.
This is an interesting post. I agree with the bolded part on what the intent of these nights is, though I don't think everyone views it the same way. I also don't think that by Provorov declining to wear the jersey that he is implicitly supporting "bullying, name calling, violence". Maybe if he took an active anti-LGBTQ+ stance I could see that, but that doesn't appear to be the case. I mean, in a relatively short span of time overall society has gone from being asked to be tolerant and accepting of others' lifestyles (which by all means, Provorov appears to be) to the point that if one player doesn't wear a pride jersey they're somehow now supporting "violence" against a group of people. Really?
Personally, if I was being asked by my company to wear pride gear...I don't think I would do it. And not because of any hatred for anybody that identifies as part of it. People can do what they want, be what they want, love who they want - I really don't care. I hate to have to bring up the "I have gay friends" line, but...I have gay friends and I don't want to see them discriminated against or face hatred for their personal lives. While I am somewhat religious (could certainly be much better), I wouldn't necessarily just pin it on that either, nor do I care to push any of my religious beliefs on anyone else (though I will say the level of anti-religious rhetoric surrounding this issue on these boards was a bit surprising). I just don't think anyone should be coerced into having to support a cause they may not fully be on-board with for whatever reason, and while I understand many will simply view wearing a pride jersey as supporting an inclusive culture (as you mentioned), others may view the wider LGBTQ+ movement and have issues with certain aspects of it (rightly or wrongly), whether it be the rapid rise in gender dysphoria and use of hormone blockers or even surgery among teenagers and kids, the ever-expanding list of pronouns and genders, teaching/exposing kids about sexuality at younger and younger ages, etc. I don't want to get into any of these topics and I'm sure it's against board rules, so I'm really trying to tread lightly here - just trying to make the point that people may not all view the significance of wearing the pride jersey the same way nor might refusing to do so be just due to bigoted, evil reasons as many seem to believe.
To a certain extent, I also don't think it's necessarily fair to put players in this position where they either go along with something they don't believe in or face severe social consequences - I'm sure there are some younger/fringe players with less clout that may unwittingly go along with it as they just can't take the risk to their career by going against it. I'm also sure that you can make the same argument against military nights as well - particularly considering so many of the players in the league are foreign born.
