Say Goodbye to Pride Gear at NHL Games
As anti-LGBTQ+ legislation continues to sweep across the country, companies and organizations have been forced to decide how to react and how to show their support for the community—or not. The National Hockey League seems to be taking the path of least resistance.
Last week, ahead of the kickoff of the 2023–24 NHL season, the league sent a memo to teams outlining what players can and cannot do as part of theme celebrations this season. According to The Associated Press, players aren’t allowed to alter their on-ice uniforms and gear for games, warmups, and official team practices regardless of theme nights like Pride, Hockey Fights Cancer, or military appreciation celebrations. As a result, controversial Pride jerseys and Pride Tape for sticks are effectively banned from the ice.
Pride Night last season led to a number of players across the league opting not to wear theme jerseys, causing the NHL to prohibit teams from wearing any theme jerseys during warmups. Still, while the league has emphasized its apparent support for the LGBTQ+ community, Commissioner Gary Bettman stressed the importance of players’ freedom.
“You know what our goals, our values, and our intentions are across the league, whether it’s at the league level or at the club level,” he said back in February. “But we also have to respect some individual choice, and some people are more comfortable embracing themselves in causes than others. And part of being diverse and welcoming is understanding those differences.”
The decision has drawn backlash from organizations like You Can Play, which advocates for LGBTQ+ participation in sports and has partnered with the NHL for the past decade.
“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 industry-leading work on 2SLGBTQ+ belonging,” the group said in a statement. “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.”
The makers of Pride Tape, meanwhile, similarly condemned the NHL’s move in a statement of their own.
“The Pride Tape team is extremely disappointed by the NHL’s decision to eliminate Pride Tape from any league on-ice activities,” they expressed. “Seven years ago, Pride Tape was born out of adversity as a grassroots hockey initiative that remains resilient and optimistic about our plans with hockey clubs, organizations, and their partners at every level…. Despite this setback, we are encouraged for what lies ahead based on our recent conversations from every corner of the sport.”
The first NHL games of the 2023–24 season kick off tonight with a trio of games: the Nashville Predators versus the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Chicago Blackhawks versus the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Seattle Kraken versus the Vegas Golden Knights.
