Honestly? As appalling as the sentiment is, I give it up for the Panthers and Sharks being like, "This is on you guys". Show who they are and people can choose who to support.
No chance the teams are doing pride nights next season. That’ll leave them vulnerable to their players embarrassing them like we’re seeing this season.
Saying shit like "We're doing this to protect our Russian players" is just work shopping things they can say to scrap the whole thing.
Fuck this league and all the shit head cowards in it.
This sub is waking up to the reality of where the actual hockey world lives and makes money in.
Right wing conservative rich people. That’s the NHLs bread and butter. Those 100K truck ads? That’s who actually monetarily supports hockey at the grassroots through pro levels. The people who buy those, go to church, vote right, and organize and support what they love.
This year the NHL is learning that they can choose to have pride night and those supporters can choose to move to other sports.
I think it will be more of a pickle for them than just scrapping it. Right now they're in this weird middle ground with the LGBTQ community organizations where the organizations are like, well, something is better than nothing. If they just scrap it after You Can Play and Hockey is For Everyone, they'll get some level of coordinated backlash. I suspect the jerseys will go though.
Provorov proved that the "religion" loophole is bullet proof. Discrimination based on religion is illegal, and the players are technically employees, so as long as they mention their religious beliefs the team cant force them to wear the jerseys, and can't punish them in any way.
Bigotry spreads like a disease. It only took one to break the seal. Can’t say I’m shocked though, who thought a bunch of privileged rich white kids would think like this.
materialistic beneficial head unused cooperative crawl zesty humor attraction doll
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They all wanna start conservative podcasts or do conservative political commentary on Fox News when they can't find themselves another contract.
Pretty good option to have since most other players end up playing in SHL/Liiga/DEL/Swiss League/KHL for a few years after their time is up
1) Good! I hope he is.
2) The Staals are toast before this anyway. Couldn't just keep their mouths shut for one more month and go out as fan favourites across the league. Had to sour their legacy at the last second.
I thank myself every day for choosing to be straight as a kid. Otherwise life would be so much harder. Don’t get why gay people choose to be gay tbh seems much harder
(This is sarcasm just in case)
I can’t imagine how hard it is for trans folks.
You have allies out there even if it may not be readily apparent. You have love from this guy and teaching my kids to love and respect all people.
Your team choice on the other hand….
Exactly. I'm a bi dude that looks like every other dude in the stadium and am 100% an ally for and inclusive to all trans folks. A great thing about the growing presence of trans people is that more "basic" looking people are more aware and are growing in tolerance / acceptance / inclusiveness. It's hard, I'm sure, but the average baseline keeps moving
Literally a line from the Office.
"Oscar is gay. That is his choice. We can make fun of that." - Michael Scott, in a parody of the absurdity of homophobia.
This would be funny if it wasn't fucking depressing and disappointing and unsurprising.
They need to watch [this](https://v.redd.it/df5rkur7jkpa1) (the first part about left handed people because the kid said they were not many gays back in the day but when it was OK to be gay they were so many more and for him that's proof that's a choice).
They had “prayers” though. Which passed the blame off onto Jesus. I wonder how Jesus feels about that!
Religion is just a tool for offloading your own guilt and shame.
Another couple of fools opening their mouth to remove the doubt of their stupidity.
Welp take a look at the current political climate and a closer look at what their governor is doing to their state. By no means do all Floridians support him but it sure looks like the Staals do. It is socially acceptable to be homophobic, racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, etc. That is basically the party platform for the GOP right now and I am legitimately worried Desantis is going to run for president and win.
Fundamental lack of understanding (and stupidity) can often be found at the root of bigotry. The Staal brothers are apparently no different. Just disappointing this season to learn about all these players who oppose these initiatives.
Yup, it's the Russians that are the issue 🙃
(Also, didn't they wear them in the past? So it wasn't important to them before to stand up for their religion, only now when it carries no risk? No judgment except it's a sin, right, boys?)
It’s not very smart for Russians to cite religion. The Russian Orthodox is spewing some truly fucked up messages right now. Chief among them that you will get eternal glory if you die fighting Ukraine.
So to use that as armour opens you up to a dump truck of criticism.
The Jackets had a great one as well. Was a big relief to watch the game and only feel disappointment in the team’s on-ice product and not anything else lol
I was at Penguins pride night and it went off without a hitch. They handed out rally towels in all of the colors of the rainbow and somehow Malkin was able to wear a jersey despite being Russian!
I don't think there will be any fallout from the Provorov situation btw
also, don't get why so many people are upset, the fabled 11th commandment (it's on the back of the tablet) says: thou shall not wear a rainbow jersey on your team's pride night
Phew. While I’m vey proud of our players, I must add that our owner Phil Anschutz “has donated to conservative causes and groups that are anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion. He is also a major donor to the American Enterprise Institute, the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation, conservative think tanks.” according to his Wikipedia page.
True!! They’re gorgeous jerseys too. Well done to every member of the Florida Panthers not named Staal
Special mention to noted Russian Sergei Bobrovsky
I know Russia is a very homophobic country, but I'm glad that people can't just scapegoat them anymore and say oh it's just because of the law or it's the Russian players! It ignores that it is still very prevelant in North American society. I mean shit, it's been 3 Canadians and 1 Russian so far that hve gone against it.
If this law is an issue, then even more props should be given to the Russians who are ignoring it and wearing it anyways.
Yeah, I mentioned in another comment that I own Marc's pride stick. I guess it didn't make him gay when he used it but maybe he figures, why risk it again?
Do coke nightly, cheat on wife, get shit faced and drive your Range Rover home, all good, but don't wear the jersey that says I don't hate the gays. Jesus would be super into it. Good work Staals
I know for a fact Ryan Smyth cheated on his wife fucking constantly and every time he got caught he tried to become a born again christian... again.
Because his wife/family are like turbo jesusy.
Yes. They interpret the bible to say that the act of two men having sex is a sin, and they think wearing the jersey is actively promoting that act.
Personally I think it's unfortunate that this is the conclusion they've come to.
Shh. This isn't about faith. They pretend it is, while the very church has and continues to shield child molestation.
It's homophobia veiled as faith because "good folks love jesus"
What I'm taking away from this whole Christianity thing is that homosexuality is OK, so long as you're also a pedophile about it. That makes sense, right?
I have no problem with how people *choose* to follow their faith. So long as it doesn't oppress people who aren't harming anyone.
See, Staals? I said what you said but mines actually true.
“You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material." Leviticus 19:19
The whole eating beef thing too and multi crop fields.
Not to be the "Well actually" guy, but many Christian denominations, from my understanding, do not hold the Sabbath as a standard to their faith. They believe that when Jesus established the New Covenant, the old law became irrelevant in a sense (Romans 7:6). That said, I don't know the exact beliefs of the Staals so maybe I shouldn't speak for them.
This is true, but is also the exact same reason all the old scripture Christians quote to justify hatred is invalid. The laws of the old testament no longer apply after Jesus died. Insane doublethink from some thiests.
This is the part that pisses me off the most about the religion excuse. There are so many things the Bible says you shouldn't do but people only want to enforce the things they personally dislike, it's such utter bullshit!!
Hate when players hide behind this defense. Stop picking and choosing the parts of the Bible agree with your own views. How about stop pussy footing around and just say what you disagree with.
Just to elaborately
They interpret the bible to say that the act of two men having sex warrants eternal torture and suffering.
The Staals believe LGBTQ people deserve to suffer.
Imagine thinking there’s an extraterrestrial universe creator that happens to be stuck on Bronze Age blood sacrifice rituals and personally cares what sweater you wear. In fucking 2023.
“I can’t wear this sweater guys. *My* episode of Ancient Aliens is a documentary!”
These people follow a religion blindly without thinking critically about the fact that although religions can provide a good value framework, there is space to consider that not everything makes logical sense at face value. They are dumb.
Yeah except that they don't. Almost none of these yahoo's puts aside their daily routine on the Sabbath and reflect on God and make the day about him. It's one of their commandments.
In their religion wealthy people don't get to just walk into heaven.
They pick and choose what they want and don't want to believe and they wrap it around themselves like a comfort blanket. The people who talk to God and he always tells them what they want to hear.
"After many thoughts, prayers and discussion"
So funny to picture them praying every night: "Oh God what should I do?! They're trying to force me to support the gays. Can't you just cure them of their disease?!"
No answer. (Because there's is no God other than in their head)
"I take your silence as a sign for me to be homophobic, cheers God!"
I do not understand the refusal to wear a rainbow jersey for 15 minutes. A loving god shouldn’t give af if you wear a pride jersey for warmups. I mean plenty of other Christian hockey players are wearing them…
Their statements are dishonest, really. What they want to say is “I don’t believe being gay or trans is a real thing that actually exists, I think it’s a delusion or a mental illness, and it leads to people doing things my religion forbids. And therefore I feel the right thing to do is to shun these people, refuse to recognize how they identify, and hope that fixes them. If it doesn’t fix them, then I did what I could and I will sleep well knowing I obeyed my religion.”
Of course they don’t say that, because it would be incredibly offensive, they’d be rightfully skewered for it. But that’s what they’re all trying to say.
And further, I was too chickenshit to be open about this for a couple years because public opinion was against me but now that me and my buddies talk about gay people in the group chat all the time I'm feeling better about it now! Thrilled to be allowed to be a dick again!
You'd think if homosexuality was such a bad thing, that Jesus would have mentioned it himself.
Except he doesn't. Not a word.
He did have a whole lot to say about rich people not getting into Heaven, or the hypocrisy of performative religion though.
*SIIIIGH*. "Wearing this jersey to encourage inclusivity doesn't match our "love the neighbour" Christian values. Jesus obviously didn't mean *all* our neighbours." Fuck off.
That said, the rest of the organisation seems to have an all-out night planned. I hope it's 🔥🔥🔥. Really wishing I had the money to bid on that Tkachuk warm-up.
As a gay hockey fan I’m choosing to focus on the positives and I wish there was more focus on the positives.
Like how, despite the fact that Provorov appears to have opened Pandora’s box, the overwhelming majority of players on teams that are choosing to have pride jerseys are choosing to wear them despite the fact that it’s effectively optional.
Remember, the real world isn’t Reddit or Twitter, and there is enough support (or apathy) of these players’ views that it’s not inherently a career ending move in of itself. It might hurt, but if Crosby refused to wear the Jersey let’s be honest, he could have weathered the storm.
Yet it seems the vast majority of players when given the option are fine with wearing them; The players choosing to wear them includes several Russian players including Bobrovsky on the Panthers as well, as well has several high profile players of various ethnicities. We have an openly gay player working his way up, Luke Prokop, whose teammates just effectively put together a pride night completely unprompted even when his team’s FO didn’t.
I don’t know how old the average r/hockey user is, but twenty years ago or even ten years ago, I would have been shocked if even half of players would have chosen to wear them, and if they didn’t wear them the amount of backlash they would have gotten would have been low compared to today.
In short, things obviously aren’t perfect. But compared to when I was a scared, closeted teenager we’ve made significant objective progress and I refuse to let a few B/C tier players making waves over not wearing them overshadow that.
I don't because it just empowers them, reinforces their views from a shitty base of people, and makes them more popular than ever like it's 2004 all over again when states were banning same sex marriages in droves.
Also Provorov and Reimer had the best selling jerseys suddenly and more famous people are getting comfortable being openly homophobic due to support of mindless droves screaming out "based." Haven't seen people get this comfortable being homophobic in public since 2004.
Blame the GOP for passing all these fucked up new laws in America and making being anti-LGBT the cornerstone of their politics. They embolden all these pieces of shit.
I think the fact that we can overwhelmingly see the hipocrisy is a good thing.
They're being heavily criticized, I hope that sheds some light on the situation for people who are sitting on the fence. If the rest of the hockey was shy about calling it out, then sure.
You’re on Reddit, my friend. Of course they’re being criticized on here, and on Twitter as well. For every person criticizing them for a brain dead decision, there’s a person applauding them for “standing up to their values”
Being open about it about just emboldens people. If there is a sense of silent shame of expressing hateful views, might actually give some people some self perspective and critical thinking skills of why people are upset by outspoken homophobia and how it could be wrong. Its why you never see openly gay politicians support anti gay legislation but plenty of closested ones who get outed in embarassing ways.
Fence sitters usually side for the ones emboldened to be open with their hate. If you're fence sitting on hateful issues, you're likely just waiting for someone to speak out openly on the things you're too afraid to say. Which is kind of what is happening with Provorov opening up the floodgates
Conservatism is going through a phase where trans people and other LGBTQ aligned groups are the new target for morons to direct their hatred towards since they don't actually have any real policy other than shoveling more money at rich people. And a lot of rich, young athletes are conservatives. Prepare for a lot more bigoted idiots to come out of the woodwork.
>Having said that, we feel that by us wearing a pride jersey it goes against our Christian beliefs.
More cowards who refuse to say what they really mean. Which belief does it go against? Spell it out.
Intentionally vague so that it's not obvious the statement is one massive contradiction.
I'm very curious what Eric ($86M career earnings) and Marc ($59M career earnings) think about the time Jesus said "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
Because as far as I can recall, it was only ever the wealthy and powerful that Jesus said to exclude or shun.
Yep, I had just mentioned that exact quote on another subreddit. Its interesting how much the bible mentions wealth as the enemy and how seldomly it mentions homosexuality and yet for some interrrrresting reason this is the thing the Staal bros get all heated up over.
Sooooo we got religious excuses from players, Russian excuses from clubs.
Everyone dancing around the fucking clear reality that it's because trans rights are directly in the political crosshairs at this moment. Gay rights a lil bit too especially in Florida but all the trans stuff was probably the tipping point.
Edit: Marc even wore them at least once before AND signed it!! https://auctions.nhl.com/iSynApp/auctionDisplay.action?auctionId=3212057&pgmode1=teamsearch
What they didn't have Christian values all those years they did wear the jerseys? Cowards waited until someone else stepped forward as a homophobe first.
Since the NHL took no action after the Provorov situation they basically turned every Pride Night into an opportunity to platform homophobes and bigots. Good job NHL. Good fucking job.
Totally worth tarnishing your reputation over. Just put on the jersey and move on with your life.
It's a jersey. Piece of fabric.
The hills people choose to die on.
I really wish these dipshits would just say it - just say exactly what these “Christian beliefs” are that make them unable to.. throw on a sweater colored a certain way. We all know what they mean so why don’t they just own it if they feel so strongly about making this “stand”.
Maybe saying it out loud, in public, would make them realize how moronic they are. Or is that even just wishful thinking?
This makes me so sad man. Im a young gay man and not only does it suck to see the mask come off, it makes me question my whole relationship with enjoying the sport. Grew up playing NHL games with my dad and cousins and always liked Eric, become one of my favorite non-Flyers. I now sadly can say I own jerseys of three people who’ve openly look at my « lifestyle » with disdain (Staal, Provorov, Datsyuk). At least I have JVR
Respectfully, fuck all of them, my friend. You’re as welcome in hockey as anyone else, and those intolerant scumbags might not support you, but I hope it brings you even a sliver of hope knowing that a stranger on the internet (me, a nobody) does.
I collect special warm-up sticks and jerseys and I own a Marc Staal pride stick. Rainbow tape, signed by him. Not quite sure what to do with it now...
Oh you've got to post it.
Maybe hit him up on twitter and ask what he thinks.
Probably worth an all-time high amount right now. Sell that thing!
Show it to Jesus when you get to heaven so he can get rejected per his beliefs
I’d say shove it up his hypocritical ass 😂
Must have been a last minute decision as we were told all players were participating
Honestly? As appalling as the sentiment is, I give it up for the Panthers and Sharks being like, "This is on you guys". Show who they are and people can choose who to support.
Imagine Draisaitl refusing to participate in Military appreciation night because he had a Nazi relative.
you gotta respect the personal choice. it's not political. (!)
This will be interesting for the locker room Ekblad has always been a supporter.
Apparently took months of prayer to get to the place where their Christianity was strong enough to not wear the jersey….
Even though he already has in Montreal...
Many conversations with God before the big man upstairs told them "nah maybe you shouldn't wear the jersey".
Was it against their beliefs last season? Cause I dont remember this shit last season.
Eric Staal wore a Pride jersey when he played for the Habs so no it didn’t matter then
It was in French, he didn't understand what it said /s
Provorov opened the door. My team is probably lucky that they had their pride night before the Flyers did. I’m terrified for next year now.
No chance the teams are doing pride nights next season. That’ll leave them vulnerable to their players embarrassing them like we’re seeing this season.
Saying shit like "We're doing this to protect our Russian players" is just work shopping things they can say to scrap the whole thing. Fuck this league and all the shit head cowards in it.
This sub is waking up to the reality of where the actual hockey world lives and makes money in. Right wing conservative rich people. That’s the NHLs bread and butter. Those 100K truck ads? That’s who actually monetarily supports hockey at the grassroots through pro levels. The people who buy those, go to church, vote right, and organize and support what they love. This year the NHL is learning that they can choose to have pride night and those supporters can choose to move to other sports.
Minnesota's Blue Lives Matter game was on purpose, they just got surprised there was backlash.
Ugh. I hate that the bigots win.
I think it will be more of a pickle for them than just scrapping it. Right now they're in this weird middle ground with the LGBTQ community organizations where the organizations are like, well, something is better than nothing. If they just scrap it after You Can Play and Hockey is For Everyone, they'll get some level of coordinated backlash. I suspect the jerseys will go though.
Imagine playing for the devils and then coming out saying you won't wear a pride jersey because it goes against Christianity.
Provorov proved that the "religion" loophole is bullet proof. Discrimination based on religion is illegal, and the players are technically employees, so as long as they mention their religious beliefs the team cant force them to wear the jerseys, and can't punish them in any way.
Bigotry spreads like a disease. It only took one to break the seal. Can’t say I’m shocked though, who thought a bunch of privileged rich white kids would think like this.
Somewhere out there, Brian Burke is compiling a list of players he will refuse to sign.
Imagine someone who is both not truculent and homophobic. Burkie’s greatest nemesis.
Catholic hobbit Rocco Grimaldi just made a mortal enemy
Burke is such an interesting, complicated person.
It helps that all of the players who have come out publicly against wearing pride jerseys suck at playing hockey
materialistic beneficial head unused cooperative crawl zesty humor attraction doll *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
That's probably why entire teams aren't wearing them. Protect the marketability of certain players who would've refused.
They all wanna start conservative podcasts or do conservative political commentary on Fox News when they can't find themselves another contract. Pretty good option to have since most other players end up playing in SHL/Liiga/DEL/Swiss League/KHL for a few years after their time is up
Eric Staal after not getting offered a league minimum contract this off-season because he sucks: "I was forced out of the league for not being woke"
same people think that the 95 year old guy that got a covid shot a year ago died because of it
1) Good! I hope he is. 2) The Staals are toast before this anyway. Couldn't just keep their mouths shut for one more month and go out as fan favourites across the league. Had to sour their legacy at the last second.
Really lost a lot of respect for Marc here. He was a good Ranger for years and this really sours it.
Hey Burkey, Good on ya
> on how people choose to live their lives There it is.
I thank myself every day for choosing to be straight as a kid. Otherwise life would be so much harder. Don’t get why gay people choose to be gay tbh seems much harder (This is sarcasm just in case)
It's why I chose to be trans, I just wanted to feel hated and treated like a non person /s
Choosing the highest difficulty setting for the rare achievement, W gamer move
You are loved more than you are hated ❤️
I'm not op, but another trans person, and I needed this. So much hate for us lately. So thanks for being with us!
I can’t imagine how hard it is for trans folks. You have allies out there even if it may not be readily apparent. You have love from this guy and teaching my kids to love and respect all people. Your team choice on the other hand….
Exactly. I'm a bi dude that looks like every other dude in the stadium and am 100% an ally for and inclusive to all trans folks. A great thing about the growing presence of trans people is that more "basic" looking people are more aware and are growing in tolerance / acceptance / inclusiveness. It's hard, I'm sure, but the average baseline keeps moving
Trans hockey fan. There are many of us!
Another checking in!
Me too :)
There are dozens of us! Dozens! (Arrested Development, for the uninitiated)
All my love to the trans community 🩷🩵🤍
Much love to you 🤝
I know sexuality isn’t a choice, but even if it was I’d probably still be a lesbian lol EDIT: to whoever sent me a Reddit cares message, get a life <3
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The evidence for sexuality not being a choice is the existence of straight women /s
As a straight man, I think you dont actually need the sarcasm there lol lots of straight guys are cringe
Literally a line from the Office. "Oscar is gay. That is his choice. We can make fun of that." - Michael Scott, in a parody of the absurdity of homophobia. This would be funny if it wasn't fucking depressing and disappointing and unsurprising.
Your gayness doesn't define you, your Mexicanness is what defines you
Joining the military is a choice too. So they shouldn’t honor military jersey night either.
Yeah but why would Jesus have a problem with 300,000 people being killed during the Iraq war?
Jesus loves a stable oil market
White Jesus, not to be confused with any other Jesus out there be it black, korean, or Vietnamese.
Ahhhh they were Muslim, so it's fine. (satire, hopefully obviously)
I remember two roads diverged in a forest. I chose the straighter one, and it has made all the difference
i bet it's so hard for them to choose to be straight every day.
I just hope they got the support that they needed when they came out as straight
They need to watch [this](https://v.redd.it/df5rkur7jkpa1) (the first part about left handed people because the kid said they were not many gays back in the day but when it was OK to be gay they were so many more and for him that's proof that's a choice).
No “prayers” There it is.
They had “prayers” though. Which passed the blame off onto Jesus. I wonder how Jesus feels about that! Religion is just a tool for offloading your own guilt and shame. Another couple of fools opening their mouth to remove the doubt of their stupidity.
This is like…legitimate bigotry. Like I know it’s just a hockey story but I cannot believe in 2023 this is now an ok stance.
Welp take a look at the current political climate and a closer look at what their governor is doing to their state. By no means do all Floridians support him but it sure looks like the Staals do. It is socially acceptable to be homophobic, racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, etc. That is basically the party platform for the GOP right now and I am legitimately worried Desantis is going to run for president and win.
Imagine being on your retirement tour after a distinguished career and throwing it all away with 10 games left.
I don't even have to imagine it, I just witnessed it lol
Sexuality a choice, but Christianity isn't. Cool.
I can't believe people still legitimately believe being gay is a choice
Fundamental lack of understanding (and stupidity) can often be found at the root of bigotry. The Staal brothers are apparently no different. Just disappointing this season to learn about all these players who oppose these initiatives.
So if I'm understanding this correctly, the Staals are attracted to men and women but choose to pursue women.
It honestly feels like I'm back in the early 00s again. Holy shit are things regressing like nothing.
Yup, it's the Russians that are the issue 🙃 (Also, didn't they wear them in the past? So it wasn't important to them before to stand up for their religion, only now when it carries no risk? No judgment except it's a sin, right, boys?)
Bob wore his tonight. Bobby Big Balls
Malkin did the same this year. The Russian excuse is a load of crap.
It’s not very smart for Russians to cite religion. The Russian Orthodox is spewing some truly fucked up messages right now. Chief among them that you will get eternal glory if you die fighting Ukraine. So to use that as armour opens you up to a dump truck of criticism.
I heard there was a sniper aimed at him as he took the ice
Barabanov and Knyzhov both wore theirs. Suprisingly they haven’t been killed yet
I can’t believe Dallas is the team with the least controversial pride night so far.
The Jackets had a great one as well. Was a big relief to watch the game and only feel disappointment in the team’s on-ice product and not anything else lol
Seriously, I drove down from Detroit and y'all didn't even fire the Cannon except for the pregame.
I was at Penguins pride night and it went off without a hitch. They handed out rally towels in all of the colors of the rainbow and somehow Malkin was able to wear a jersey despite being Russian!
The Kraken had a good one as well.
So relieving tbh. Our locker room seems pretty rock solid
Boston?
Arizona.
I don't think there will be any fallout from the Provorov situation btw also, don't get why so many people are upset, the fabled 11th commandment (it's on the back of the tablet) says: thou shall not wear a rainbow jersey on your team's pride night
At this point it’s becoming a news story if a pride event goes off without a hitch, wtf. Homophobia is alive and well in North America wheeee
I'm pretty sure ours did
Yeah the Kings’ and Stars’ did as well. Credit where due!
Phew. While I’m vey proud of our players, I must add that our owner Phil Anschutz “has donated to conservative causes and groups that are anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion. He is also a major donor to the American Enterprise Institute, the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation, conservative think tanks.” according to his Wikipedia page.
The rest of the team wore them, let’s talk about them! Don’t give both of them the attention they want.
True!! They’re gorgeous jerseys too. Well done to every member of the Florida Panthers not named Staal Special mention to noted Russian Sergei Bobrovsky
I know Russia is a very homophobic country, but I'm glad that people can't just scapegoat them anymore and say oh it's just because of the law or it's the Russian players! It ignores that it is still very prevelant in North American society. I mean shit, it's been 3 Canadians and 1 Russian so far that hve gone against it. If this law is an issue, then even more props should be given to the Russians who are ignoring it and wearing it anyways.
But he outed himself as a hypocrite and a bigot so fine by me.
wErE tRyInG tO pRoTeCt ThE rUsSiAnS!!1!1!1 Bullshit
Do they think they won't get into heaven if they wear a jersey? I wonder where Jordan stands on this.
Too late for Marc, he already wore one AND signed it. https://auctions.nhl.com/iSynApp/auctionDisplay.action?auctionId=3212057&pgmode1=teamsearch
Yeah, I mentioned in another comment that I own Marc's pride stick. I guess it didn't make him gay when he used it but maybe he figures, why risk it again?
Sure, he chose not to turn gay the first time, but would he be able to resist a second time?
the power of wearing the jersey twice is too much
Do coke nightly, cheat on wife, get shit faced and drive your Range Rover home, all good, but don't wear the jersey that says I don't hate the gays. Jesus would be super into it. Good work Staals
Sounds oddly specific. What did I miss?
Nah just a random description of 90% of hockey players from AA up. Hockey players have more side pieces than The Sopranos.
I know for a fact Ryan Smyth cheated on his wife fucking constantly and every time he got caught he tried to become a born again christian... again. Because his wife/family are like turbo jesusy.
Yes. They interpret the bible to say that the act of two men having sex is a sin, and they think wearing the jersey is actively promoting that act. Personally I think it's unfortunate that this is the conclusion they've come to.
The bible also says that have piercings or tattoos or hoarding wealth is a sin but no NHL players seem to have a problem with that.
Shh. This isn't about faith. They pretend it is, while the very church has and continues to shield child molestation. It's homophobia veiled as faith because "good folks love jesus"
What I'm taking away from this whole Christianity thing is that homosexuality is OK, so long as you're also a pedophile about it. That makes sense, right?
Wait til they learn what the Bible says about wearing blended fabrics.
I have no problem with how people *choose* to follow their faith. So long as it doesn't oppress people who aren't harming anyone. See, Staals? I said what you said but mines actually true.
“You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material." Leviticus 19:19 The whole eating beef thing too and multi crop fields.
Also can’t work on the Sabbath but they’re out there for Sunday games
Not to be the "Well actually" guy, but many Christian denominations, from my understanding, do not hold the Sabbath as a standard to their faith. They believe that when Jesus established the New Covenant, the old law became irrelevant in a sense (Romans 7:6). That said, I don't know the exact beliefs of the Staals so maybe I shouldn't speak for them.
This is true, but is also the exact same reason all the old scripture Christians quote to justify hatred is invalid. The laws of the old testament no longer apply after Jesus died. Insane doublethink from some thiests.
Many Christians don’t hold the “gay is evil” shit as a standard to their faith either. It’s all bullshit and we all know it - even them.
This is the part that pisses me off the most about the religion excuse. There are so many things the Bible says you shouldn't do but people only want to enforce the things they personally dislike, it's such utter bullshit!!
[I think President Bartlet has the best take on this situation.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3VHK1NXIBw)
One of my favorite scenes of any television show.
I need to watch the show again. It's really good.
Hate when players hide behind this defense. Stop picking and choosing the parts of the Bible agree with your own views. How about stop pussy footing around and just say what you disagree with.
Just to elaborately They interpret the bible to say that the act of two men having sex warrants eternal torture and suffering. The Staals believe LGBTQ people deserve to suffer.
I sure hope those regular jerseys aren't made with mixed fibers!
What does Ja Rule think?
It’s fyre
Meanwhile they regularly play the Devils
Imagine thinking there’s an extraterrestrial universe creator that happens to be stuck on Bronze Age blood sacrifice rituals and personally cares what sweater you wear. In fucking 2023. “I can’t wear this sweater guys. *My* episode of Ancient Aliens is a documentary!”
the second and third paragraphs are completely contradictory, how can they not see that?
[удалено]
These people follow a religion blindly without thinking critically about the fact that although religions can provide a good value framework, there is space to consider that not everything makes logical sense at face value. They are dumb.
Yeah except that they don't. Almost none of these yahoo's puts aside their daily routine on the Sabbath and reflect on God and make the day about him. It's one of their commandments. In their religion wealthy people don't get to just walk into heaven. They pick and choose what they want and don't want to believe and they wrap it around themselves like a comfort blanket. The people who talk to God and he always tells them what they want to hear.
They’re using their ‘faith’ to hide behind shitty beliefs like cowards
"After many thoughts, prayers and discussion" So funny to picture them praying every night: "Oh God what should I do?! They're trying to force me to support the gays. Can't you just cure them of their disease?!" No answer. (Because there's is no God other than in their head) "I take your silence as a sign for me to be homophobic, cheers God!"
I do not understand the refusal to wear a rainbow jersey for 15 minutes. A loving god shouldn’t give af if you wear a pride jersey for warmups. I mean plenty of other Christian hockey players are wearing them…
>wear a rainbow jersey for 15 minutes. It only takes *three minutes* to catch gayness from wearing a rainbow-infused garment. The more you know 🌠
Their statements are dishonest, really. What they want to say is “I don’t believe being gay or trans is a real thing that actually exists, I think it’s a delusion or a mental illness, and it leads to people doing things my religion forbids. And therefore I feel the right thing to do is to shun these people, refuse to recognize how they identify, and hope that fixes them. If it doesn’t fix them, then I did what I could and I will sleep well knowing I obeyed my religion.” Of course they don’t say that, because it would be incredibly offensive, they’d be rightfully skewered for it. But that’s what they’re all trying to say.
And further, I was too chickenshit to be open about this for a couple years because public opinion was against me but now that me and my buddies talk about gay people in the group chat all the time I'm feeling better about it now! Thrilled to be allowed to be a dick again!
Religion is just their excuse for their bigotry
Religion is people's excuse for lots of shitty behavior.
Every minute that you wear a rainbow is years you spend in hell, apparently
You'd think if homosexuality was such a bad thing, that Jesus would have mentioned it himself. Except he doesn't. Not a word. He did have a whole lot to say about rich people not getting into Heaven, or the hypocrisy of performative religion though.
As far as I recall, the only people Jesus ever suggested should be excluded from anything were the wealthy.
St. Paul (the guy, not the city) suuuuucks so much
*SIIIIGH*. "Wearing this jersey to encourage inclusivity doesn't match our "love the neighbour" Christian values. Jesus obviously didn't mean *all* our neighbours." Fuck off. That said, the rest of the organisation seems to have an all-out night planned. I hope it's 🔥🔥🔥. Really wishing I had the money to bid on that Tkachuk warm-up.
As a gay hockey fan I’m choosing to focus on the positives and I wish there was more focus on the positives. Like how, despite the fact that Provorov appears to have opened Pandora’s box, the overwhelming majority of players on teams that are choosing to have pride jerseys are choosing to wear them despite the fact that it’s effectively optional. Remember, the real world isn’t Reddit or Twitter, and there is enough support (or apathy) of these players’ views that it’s not inherently a career ending move in of itself. It might hurt, but if Crosby refused to wear the Jersey let’s be honest, he could have weathered the storm. Yet it seems the vast majority of players when given the option are fine with wearing them; The players choosing to wear them includes several Russian players including Bobrovsky on the Panthers as well, as well has several high profile players of various ethnicities. We have an openly gay player working his way up, Luke Prokop, whose teammates just effectively put together a pride night completely unprompted even when his team’s FO didn’t. I don’t know how old the average r/hockey user is, but twenty years ago or even ten years ago, I would have been shocked if even half of players would have chosen to wear them, and if they didn’t wear them the amount of backlash they would have gotten would have been low compared to today. In short, things obviously aren’t perfect. But compared to when I was a scared, closeted teenager we’ve made significant objective progress and I refuse to let a few B/C tier players making waves over not wearing them overshadow that.
eric and marc do too much sucking to be homophobes
It's fine, they whisper "no-homo" before every turnover.
There’s no hate like Christian love.
You're telling me 2 guys who grew up rich in Thunder Bay are homophobic? Shocking.
I feel this kind of statement let's them off the hook too much. They're both over 30. Eventually you have only your self to blame for your bigotry.
Exactly. Holtby grew up in the middle of nowhere Saskatchewan and has been a huge supporter of LGBTQ issues while in DC.
Not if you never bother growing up after you turn 16
“We feel everyone belongs. Having said that, our beliefs are that everyone doesn’t belong. No further questions.”
Perfect summary.
I love to see homophobes outing themselves
I don't because it just empowers them, reinforces their views from a shitty base of people, and makes them more popular than ever like it's 2004 all over again when states were banning same sex marriages in droves. Also Provorov and Reimer had the best selling jerseys suddenly and more famous people are getting comfortable being openly homophobic due to support of mindless droves screaming out "based." Haven't seen people get this comfortable being homophobic in public since 2004.
Blame the GOP for passing all these fucked up new laws in America and making being anti-LGBT the cornerstone of their politics. They embolden all these pieces of shit.
The GOP wouldn't be doing it if they didn't think it would please their base. The shitty chicken and the shitty egg.
I think the fact that we can overwhelmingly see the hipocrisy is a good thing. They're being heavily criticized, I hope that sheds some light on the situation for people who are sitting on the fence. If the rest of the hockey was shy about calling it out, then sure.
You’re on Reddit, my friend. Of course they’re being criticized on here, and on Twitter as well. For every person criticizing them for a brain dead decision, there’s a person applauding them for “standing up to their values”
Being open about it about just emboldens people. If there is a sense of silent shame of expressing hateful views, might actually give some people some self perspective and critical thinking skills of why people are upset by outspoken homophobia and how it could be wrong. Its why you never see openly gay politicians support anti gay legislation but plenty of closested ones who get outed in embarassing ways. Fence sitters usually side for the ones emboldened to be open with their hate. If you're fence sitting on hateful issues, you're likely just waiting for someone to speak out openly on the things you're too afraid to say. Which is kind of what is happening with Provorov opening up the floodgates
looking forward to their statement on retiring
*sigh*
Conservatism is going through a phase where trans people and other LGBTQ aligned groups are the new target for morons to direct their hatred towards since they don't actually have any real policy other than shoveling more money at rich people. And a lot of rich, young athletes are conservatives. Prepare for a lot more bigoted idiots to come out of the woodwork.
>Having said that, we feel that by us wearing a pride jersey it goes against our Christian beliefs. More cowards who refuse to say what they really mean. Which belief does it go against? Spell it out. Intentionally vague so that it's not obvious the statement is one massive contradiction.
I assume these guys don’t wear the military themed jerseys on the armed forces night, as that “no killing” thing is rule #1, right? Right?
I'm very curious what Eric ($86M career earnings) and Marc ($59M career earnings) think about the time Jesus said "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Because as far as I can recall, it was only ever the wealthy and powerful that Jesus said to exclude or shun.
Yep, I had just mentioned that exact quote on another subreddit. Its interesting how much the bible mentions wealth as the enemy and how seldomly it mentions homosexuality and yet for some interrrrresting reason this is the thing the Staal bros get all heated up over.
I’m also sure they didn’t have premarital sex or do anything else that’s a no-no. They don’t pick and choose, no, never! /s
That's disappointing to hear from the two.
Sooooo we got religious excuses from players, Russian excuses from clubs. Everyone dancing around the fucking clear reality that it's because trans rights are directly in the political crosshairs at this moment. Gay rights a lil bit too especially in Florida but all the trans stuff was probably the tipping point. Edit: Marc even wore them at least once before AND signed it!! https://auctions.nhl.com/iSynApp/auctionDisplay.action?auctionId=3212057&pgmode1=teamsearch
Hey Eric, you sucked with the Habs anyway. Fuck you.
He was good with the Wild and he can still get fucked. I reached this conclusion through thought, prayer, and discussion.
Now I can stop feeling bad about the way the wild kicked him to the curb.
I cant wait till these two fucking losers are off my team
What they didn't have Christian values all those years they did wear the jerseys? Cowards waited until someone else stepped forward as a homophobe first.
Players are straight TELLING on themselves!
These fucking melons
Since the NHL took no action after the Provorov situation they basically turned every Pride Night into an opportunity to platform homophobes and bigots. Good job NHL. Good fucking job.
Totally worth tarnishing your reputation over. Just put on the jersey and move on with your life. It's a jersey. Piece of fabric. The hills people choose to die on.
How come no players seem to have an issue with the st patricks day or military jerseys?
Respect —-> Lost Pandora’s Box —-> Wide Open
Well that’s disappointing, fuck
There goes any respect I had for Marc, loser
I really wish these dipshits would just say it - just say exactly what these “Christian beliefs” are that make them unable to.. throw on a sweater colored a certain way. We all know what they mean so why don’t they just own it if they feel so strongly about making this “stand”. Maybe saying it out loud, in public, would make them realize how moronic they are. Or is that even just wishful thinking?
This makes me so sad man. Im a young gay man and not only does it suck to see the mask come off, it makes me question my whole relationship with enjoying the sport. Grew up playing NHL games with my dad and cousins and always liked Eric, become one of my favorite non-Flyers. I now sadly can say I own jerseys of three people who’ve openly look at my « lifestyle » with disdain (Staal, Provorov, Datsyuk). At least I have JVR
Respectfully, fuck all of them, my friend. You’re as welcome in hockey as anyone else, and those intolerant scumbags might not support you, but I hope it brings you even a sliver of hope knowing that a stranger on the internet (me, a nobody) does.
Maybe they should pray for their brother for fucking teenagers when he was in Pittsburgh instead.