(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) The New York Islanders made official its decision to not wear rainbow jerseys or rainbow stick tape for ‘pride‘ night when it hits the ice.
The Islanders have an organizational policy against specialized warm up gear, according to Breitbart News. The franchise only wears alternative jerseys when mandated by the NHL, those jerseys are, Hockey Fights Cancer, Saint Patrick‘s Day, and Military Day.
The team has, in the past, used rainbow tape on pride, but will refuse to don it this year, reported the New York Post.
The New York Rangers, on the other hand, have no tradition of avoiding alternative jerseys, according to Post. The Rangers have been hosting a Pride Night, complete with the whole team donning rainbow jerseys and using rainbow stick wraps, for seven years.
In fact, the Rangers promised to don the uniforms “in solidarity” with “the LGBT ‘community.'” Then, suddenly, the Rangers announced that they would not don the homosexual themed jerseys.
Notably, the team wore warmup jerseys for Hispanic Heritage Night and Military Night.
Though the organization produced to justification for the sudden change, the New York Post’s Mollie Walker suggested that the move came from the recent controversy over pride night in Philadelphia.
“There is no question that the backlash the Flyers received over their Pride Night on Jan. 17, when defenseman Ivan Provorov refused to take warmups in the team’s custom jersey while citing his Russian Orthodox religion as the reason, influenced how the Rangers’ handled the event,” she speculated.
Walker is referring to the media‘s response to the Flyers defenseman and Eastern Orthodox Christian, who refused to wear the rainbow jersey because it contradicted his religious beliefs.
One example is the Canadian morning show hosts Sid Seixeiro, who attacked Povorov and Christians.
“The theme from the National Hockey League is ‘hockey is for everyone’,” he said. “The theme is not ‘hockey is for everyone … unless you don’t believe in gay rights otherwise do whatever you want.’ Figure this out and stop offending people on nights where its not about that; it’s supposed to be about inclusivity.”
Seixeiro betrayed his own bigotry in his rant.
“Nothing scares me more than any human being that says ‘I’m not doing this because of my religious beliefs.’”
