Gay hockey players nhl

That would have solved their Russian problem. Even so, ducking culture wars seems to be NHL policy now. Banning Pride jerseys and other gear is not something that only the NHL has done. I player forward to sharing the ice with you someday.

If you need anything, gay me know. You may recall that Prokop became the first openly gay player in the NHL when he came out in Inhe became the first openly gay player under contract with an NHL team. In trying to straddle both sides of the issue, the league has satisfied no one.

We strongly feel hockey is for everybody, and that includes the Pride nights. I did not expect the amount of support I got from NHL players. So, in that time has one managed to crack an NHL lineup and has the NHL become more welcoming to gay players living out in the open?

The move to ban them was a public relations disaster. Even so, how can the NHL be tolerant of hockey Guys would accept it. Milwaukee Admirals defenseman Luke Prokop talked exclusively with 12 News about his path to becoming gay rico pruitt first openly gay professional hockey player in the NHL or AHL and his impact on the hockey.

Just over three years ago, I wrote a piece for The Hockey Writers that argued an inclusive NHL was waiting with open arms to welcome its first openly gay player. Surely the NHL could have made wearing the jerseys optional.

And as is their right, they may exact a price when you voice those views in word or deed. In fact, in the years since I wrote that article, it looks like the NHL has run for cover when confronted by the major social issues of the day.

I know in Edmonton, we were one of the first teams to use the Pride tape. He helped both the Oil Kings () and the Thunderbirds () to Western Hockey League titles and appearances in the Memorial Cup. The Edmonton native was taken in the third round (#73 overall) of the NHL Draft by Nashville.

The question this raises for many is why the NHL seems less willing than its players to embrace those skaters who are openly gay. Still, the decision is puzzling. All of us are entitled to express our opinions, including those that many consider loathsome.

In the year history of the NHL, there has never been a gay player who has come out — not even in retirement. On Sunday, Prokop, 23, will serve as the Grand Marshal in Milwaukee’s Pride Parade, an event expected to draw thousands of people.

But there is hope. Pleasing one side risks angering the other. Without a doubt, players refusing to wear the jerseys will suffer the wrath of many fans. You never know what the reaction is going to be inside hockey, outside hockey, because no one has done it before.

Why do the objections of just a handful of players to sporting Pride jerseys trump the wish of most NHLers to wear them once a year? Yet do players who embrace what many regard as homophobia in the name of their religion really expect to remain unscathed?

For Brock McGillis, the first openly gay former pro hockey player, an ongoing “Culture Shift Tour” that made its U.S. debut last week in Seattle highlights the need for players to become. The NHL stands alone among the Big 4 men's pro team sports with no out gay players, active or retired, in history.

Alluding to the nhl of players who declined to wear Pride jerseys for religious reasons, Bettman seemed to suggest that the ban was put in place out of respect for religious freedom.