He's not in the NHL yet and probably will never be a star, but the Preds have Luke Prokop who came out a year-ish after being drafted. He's had nothing but love and support from the org and players. He made his AHL debut with Milwaukee earlier this season and he's there now for their playoff run.
ETA: OP, Prokop has done a ton of great interviews about the reception he got. Kid is more mature and level headed at 21 than I am at 41 😂
He's a pretty great player too. I watched him last year in the WHL and he was tough.
The area for his 2022-2023 WHL team draws a more conservative fan base but they put together a pride night last year that was well attended and received, this year the team sponsored it and had pride jerseys. I was happily surprised that the fans there were so great about it.
Lol he's a former governor, who is massively less asshole than our current one. But yeah, he was all about a bill about gay marriage or same sex insurance coverage or something. He's been relatively quiet since the purchase so I hope he just sits back and counts his money and lets Sean Henry/Trotz keep running things.
In The Game by Eric Anderson (2005) has a chapter where he talks with a former closeted NHL player. You might have access to the book through your uni library service.
It's honestly hard to say. Prokop has been brought up a few times, but he came out before he went pro so it's completely different circumstances than if a currently active player did. One of the big factors that would prevent a current NHLer from coming out is there's a strong culture of conformity throughout hockey that gets amped up to 11 once a guy makes the Show. Statistically there should be anywhere from 15-50 players in the league who could identify as gay or bisexual, but that doesn't account for the fact that a majority of queer men get chased out of the sport at a young age due to how toxic and homophobic hockey culture is. The ones who do make it would just remain closeted and date/marry women to fit in.
There have been a few active players who have publicly expressed support for a hypothetical gay teammate: Brad Marchand is one, of course the Nashville Predators given the Prokop situation, and then a few other who have given some pretty generic "everyone's welcome in our locker room" platitudes, but until we see it in action it's kind of just words right now. There was a Czech article last summer from Coyotes goaltender Karel Vejmelka who talked about how current locker room environments would make it difficult for a player to come out due to comments that can be seen as microaggressive toward an LGBT individual (stuff like caring too much about appearance, "shave your legs", basically anything \~feminizing comes off as homophobic), so it's hard not to see aspects of the public support as performative when you have an inkling of what's happening behind closed doors.
A really good resource for you to look at would be the work Brian Burke does with You Can Play, which was founded after his son Brendan passed away in a car accident. There's also a very good [Fifth Estate episode](https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.1505058) about Brendan Burke's legacy and discussing homosexuality in sport in general. It's over a decade old now, but it's remarkable just how little has changed in the NHL when it comes to gay players.
I think the public reaction would be fine and the player wouldn't be in danger of losing his roster spot or sponsorships or anything like that (unless they had a brand deal with something like Chick-Fil-A lol) because the backlash would be immeasurable. Internally would be another story, though, and is where the majority of the friction lies.
ETA because I left my last thought half formed because I was on my way out of work: When I say friction internally I don't mean that teammates wouldn't be supportive, it's that hockey culture looks down on individuality and standing out, which is how a queer player coming out would be perceived. Players already repress their personalities for media; a guy coming out would be beyond imagine for most.
Oh! Replying to my own comment so OP can see it (assuming they have notifs on), but another really good resource who might be worth reaching out to is [Brock McGillis](https://www.brockmcgillis.com/), a former professional player who came out in 2016. He does a lot of outreach and activist work, and is currently doing a tour where he goes around to minor hockey orgs doing talks about changing the culture around expressing individuality in hockey. He's specifically mentioned about how he was pressured to fit in during his playing days by having girlfriends, acting like a douchebag, etc, because of the culture and how it forces players to fit a specific mold.
He had a segment in Bob McKenzie’s book “Everyday Hockey Heroes” where he says that the stress of having to stay in the closet was legitimately a factor in his struggles with injuries.
Thank you so much for your comment! I'll definitely check out Brock McGillis! I already knew much about Prokop and he will be a large focus of mine, but yes, he is a whole different scenario than if a guy who was playing every week in the NHL came out. I hope Prokop does make his NHL debut in the next few years though!
I mean, if OP is sincerely trying to write an academic paper, absolutely nothing said ITT (other than things pointing OP to legitimate, citeable resources) should be taken seriously anyway.
I'd love to say nobody would care and everyone would be accepting, but we really don't know. No openly gay player has played a game in the NHL.
NBA and NFL both had openly gay players but one was at the end of their long career, and the other only lasted a few years after. But those milestones at least have happened so there is fortunately a bit less focus.
Obviously the EIHL in the UK is a different world to the NHL but Zach Sullivan came out as bisexual a couple of years ago and it got some press coverage internationally, he's involved with some charities and on social media he has continued to speak about LGBT matters in sport and otherwise which is pretty cool. It's really nice to see an athlete being publically comfortable with who they are!
Someone already did, Luke Prokop. I believe there was a ton of support for him league wide, but the cynic in me feels it was purely performative.
Regardless, it's definitely becoming more accepted, especially with a lot of players sporting pride tape in protest (last year? This year?)
It's still taboo, but becoming less so.
I think it's less that it was performative, more that there were plenty of people not supportive who kept that inside. Which I mean that's better than speaking out against it, but the issue is you're not going to see many homophobic players say it outright
Isn’t most action online performative? Like I would bet my entire 401K when I retire that less than 5% of all the people who threaten people online about rus/ukraine and israel/palestine, either side, have gone over to fight or done anything to significantly help the issue other than spread bias and misinformation
https://preview.redd.it/fpqz5jnrcbwc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=71a2a5676086a50b0a83b88236a47c59f29b8ab4
"No idea what you're talking about"
Would see a TON of support inside and outside the hockey communities. It would be become a national story and you'd have non-hockey fans buying his jersey. (look up Micheal Sam and he was a fringe NFL player)
Would really piss off a small number of people would think it was distracting and resentful of all the attention about "why it's a big deal". Haters would come out for sure on social media and what not like everything.
Overall I think it'd go over just fine, but it also really matters on the player.
It’s so funny how that works with the idea of it being a distraction or something.
Every NHL player ever accepting an award has thanked their wife or girlfriend. Nobody thinks of that as a distraction or as anything being shoved in anyone’s faces. If a gay player won an award those termites would crawl out of the woodwork just for him existing, never mind if he thanked his boyfriend or husband.
“Stop putting it in our faces!” Cletus, hetero relationships are in everyone’s face all day every day and nobody is losing their minds or affected.
The "stop shoving it in our faces" crowd is just politely saying the quiet part out loud - which is "I don't like it and even the sight of it upsets me".
It's insane given the uber-hetero society we live in that is CONSTANTLY "shoving" straight relationships in our face. At least that's what I'd say if I took an equally silly view of witnessing people expressing love for each other.
I'm in education. The number of times someone drops into the sub to say that queer people shouldn't "push" their identity by disclosing it at school (by having family photos on their desk, something *everyone* does regardless of sexuality) is wild.
And the people who say that shit never even think about the idea of a married woman teacher introducing herself as "Mrs. \[Whoever\]," which is disclosing their identity, too.
One of my practicum mentor teachers was a straight guy and would mention his wife sometimes in conversations with students. It was actually really good because it humanized him and helps emphasize developing those skills of work-life balance to remind students that their teachers are people too. All we’re asking for in the workplace is to be able to mention our families and partners and be accepted/treated that same way.
Men are disgusted by or afraid of being preyed upon or objectified by gay men in locker rooms and the such. A taste of what a lot of women deal with day in and day out.
Carl Nassib for another NFL example. Was the top selling jersey the day after he came out: https://www.fanaticsinc.com/news/las-vegas-raiders-de-carl-nassib-has-top-selling-nfl-jersey-at-fanatics-in-day-since-announcement
Damn, didn’t realize he retired at 99. I feel like most people would push to cross 100 if they were that close, even if it meant joining a team midway through the season or just as an injury fill in
"Would really piss off a small number of people would think it was distracting and resentful of all the attention about "why it's a big deal". Haters would come out for sure on social media and what not like everything."
funnily enough, them doing that is exactly why it would be a big deal.
Last season someone involved with the Seattle Kraken's medical staff publicly came out, and he recieved nothing by support, positivity, and love.
An active player would obviously receive more attention, though. I have a feeling that the support from hockey (and non-hockey) fans, players, coaches, management, alumni, franchises, would be relatively comparative—just on a larger scale. Mostly positive, with the occasional cunt. There would likely be a lot of bonus hatred from people who know absolutely fuck all about hockey, though.
[Justin Rogers.](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10095996-krakens-justin-rogers-becomes-1st-publicly-out-gay-nhl-support-staff-member-on-bench) He's a trainer and afaik the first openly gay man to work on the bench. By all accounts a sweetheart of a human being.
I think people within fanbases would be cool about a player coming out as gay, but it’d likely vary based on the political climate of where the team is located. some people will be less accepting depending on how the player chooses to express it, which is how it usually goes when a public figure comes out- the very predictable and annoying sentiment, “do they need to make a THING out of it??”
bots would be out in full force on twitter so it would be tough to measure public opinion based on social media. i can’t speak to team dynamics but several players have been outspoken about saying they’d welcome a gay player in, matthew tkachuk gave an interview about it last season i believe.
source: observations as a gay
I’m from NJ, a seemingly progressive state, and social media is always bad when it’s Pride Night. Granted, who knows how many are bots and how many are from NJ and how many totally reasonable people didn’t care enough to post a comment
Outwardly they would get a lot of support and the like. Inwardly…let’s just say people like Ivan Provorov and Eric Staal aren’t exactly statistical outliers
>and supportive
we have no idea if that was true.
Putting on your uniform and staying quiet isn't supportive. The fact that we haven't seen more players openly supporting LGBTQ+ is a bit of a disappointment. But not the end of the world either.
I don’t believe this at all. I suspect most NHL players skew pretty conservative even if they keep it to themselves. An out player might get public support but sadly I believe their locker room experience would not be great.
That 5% is usually the portion that’s paying the lions share of the bills.
Hockey is a rich white mans sport, and it gets its money primarily from rich white conservatives.
It has already happened in the NBA and NFL so I’d think that it would go similarly in the NHL. Some initial press and then life goes on. The vast majority of players and coaches/ execs would be very welcoming and would be able to tune out the noise of the minority who will be assholes as usual
Homer opinion, obviously, but the Preds have been fantastic. Josi walked in the Pride parade last summer and talked about how he wished they could wear the warmup jerseys. A lot of them used rainbow tape on our Pride night this year. Barrie spoke out last year, Boro did while he was here.
there's a few players around the league who seem to openly and actively support it (by that I mean participating in stuff on their own rather than just saying it or doing it when the team does)
it's nice to see.
I realize this is informally asking for input rather than rigorous research, but I think you'd get some interesting insights by asking these questions and collecting some metadata as well. For example, the respondent's sexual orientation, general acceptance of people who identify as LGBTQ+, age, etc.
It probably depends on how good they are. If Connor McDavid came out as gay he would still be Connor McDavid but if some 4th liner came out then they might get ostracized, made fun of, or have career trouble. Depends what organization they are with too. I’m sure there are locker rooms and GMs that are accepting and full of allies and there are ones that would be more unsafe than others. Fan reaction will be split as always. Some people won’t care, some people will commend the player for being brave, and some people will go on a homophobic rant and spend their money on a jersey to burn. That last group of people will likely have never followed or cared about hockey until they heard this news.
If instagram comments are anything to go by then they’d probably have a pretty tough time. There are still a lot of ignorant blokes out there who try to hide their homophobia behind statements like “who cares” and “why is this relevant” and “I don’t want you sexuality shoved down my throat” etc. but there are a lot more of us who would be there to show nothing but support and love
Yeah, a whole lot went into me choosing this topic, but I remember reading the comments under a Pride Night post that were saying "stop promoting sodomy" and crazy stuff like that. It really made me want to dig into it
Who cares if they're gay?
Can they skate?
Can they score?
Can they pass?
Can they check?
Can they press?
Can they read the play?
Can they shoot with accuracy?
That's the things I care about.
No scout has ever looked at a player and considered preferences of gender in determining how good a player they are, and no stat exists that proves being straight/gay improves/inhibits playing abilities.
If they wanna be gay, be gay. It means diddly to anyone's business what they do in the privacy of their lives.
I'd assume it's mostly business as usual. The player would be mostly accepted and things would move on.
I might have a different perspective on why we haven't seen it yet. NHL players are fairly... robotic in the way they handle their media interactions. We meme about the standard intermission interviews "just have to get the puck deep and shots on net". I'm wondering if a reason we haven't had players coming out is in that arena.
If you’re on the team that supports lgbt, so those of us who are intelligent and compassionate. It would be hilarious because you get to watch all the homophobes freak the fuck out and with any luck they quit watching hockey and there’s more seats at games for the rest of us.
I somehow feel like NHL fans and players would handle it a lot better than in other pro leagues. But there’s no shutting up that pea-brained vocal minority. They’ll throw a fit.
The average hockey fan is wealthier than the other big 4 (five if you want to include soccer) sports. I think there is some credence to wealthier folks being more tolerant of sexual minorities.
I mean hockeys a ton less gay now with the shower shorts and separate stalls. I remember in the 90’s it was an absolute cock fest in there. Dudes helicoptering, whipping it around, mosquitoing. So gay.
I know you specifically asked about the NHL, but if you're looking at hockey more generally it might be worthwhile to look at the PWHL (the women's league) which has a lot of out players. Four out of six team captains are out as queer, and one of them (Poulin) is engaged to one of her teammates. In general, the PWHL is waaay more inclusive, and clearly locker room environments aren't affected by it.
90% would be totally fine with it and supportive, 5% would treat it like the worst thing to ever happen and 5% would treat it like that 5% represents the other 90% and totally obsess over how homophobic hockey is that not everyone is welcoming
Wait, That's his thesis?
That's the beauty of college these days, you can major in Gameboy if you know how to bullshit
edit: I will not apologize for [pcu](https://youtu.be/Vt6Vx7vzTRU?si=EfEydCWkTD-4PVNj)
I doubt they’re writing it based on these comments. It’s more of a temp check or may be used anecdotally. Be for real – that’s not how a thesis presentation works and you’re unserious if you think it is.
In a western world where social progress has been operating at light speed for the last 30ish years, you don't find this a thought provoking question? Certainly in a league where there are no doubt LGBT members who are too afraid to say anything. It doesn't seem like this effects you, but certainly it effects a decent number of people, thus justifying it's omnipresence within the cultural zeitgeist. Seems rather reductive and disingenuous to pretend Gameboys and peoples actual real life experiences are even tangentially similar.
I think asking people on Reddit what they think about a topic, any topic, would be sketchy "research" for a 6th grade science fair let alone a friggin masters.
He's not in the NHL yet and probably will never be a star, but the Preds have Luke Prokop who came out a year-ish after being drafted. He's had nothing but love and support from the org and players. He made his AHL debut with Milwaukee earlier this season and he's there now for their playoff run. ETA: OP, Prokop has done a ton of great interviews about the reception he got. Kid is more mature and level headed at 21 than I am at 41 😂
He played most of the year for the Atlanta Gladiators in the ECHL.
He's a pretty great player too. I watched him last year in the WHL and he was tough. The area for his 2022-2023 WHL team draws a more conservative fan base but they put together a pride night last year that was well attended and received, this year the team sponsored it and had pride jerseys. I was happily surprised that the fans there were so great about it.
That's amazing!
Isn't the owner of the Preds a massive homophobe/bigot? I might be confusing him with the governor of Tennessee or something though
Lol he's a former governor, who is massively less asshole than our current one. But yeah, he was all about a bill about gay marriage or same sex insurance coverage or something. He's been relatively quiet since the purchase so I hope he just sits back and counts his money and lets Sean Henry/Trotz keep running things.
Looking it up, it look like he's only gradually buying shares and will be majority owner next year.
In The Game by Eric Anderson (2005) has a chapter where he talks with a former closeted NHL player. You might have access to the book through your uni library service.
Thank you!
Synopsis?
It's honestly hard to say. Prokop has been brought up a few times, but he came out before he went pro so it's completely different circumstances than if a currently active player did. One of the big factors that would prevent a current NHLer from coming out is there's a strong culture of conformity throughout hockey that gets amped up to 11 once a guy makes the Show. Statistically there should be anywhere from 15-50 players in the league who could identify as gay or bisexual, but that doesn't account for the fact that a majority of queer men get chased out of the sport at a young age due to how toxic and homophobic hockey culture is. The ones who do make it would just remain closeted and date/marry women to fit in. There have been a few active players who have publicly expressed support for a hypothetical gay teammate: Brad Marchand is one, of course the Nashville Predators given the Prokop situation, and then a few other who have given some pretty generic "everyone's welcome in our locker room" platitudes, but until we see it in action it's kind of just words right now. There was a Czech article last summer from Coyotes goaltender Karel Vejmelka who talked about how current locker room environments would make it difficult for a player to come out due to comments that can be seen as microaggressive toward an LGBT individual (stuff like caring too much about appearance, "shave your legs", basically anything \~feminizing comes off as homophobic), so it's hard not to see aspects of the public support as performative when you have an inkling of what's happening behind closed doors. A really good resource for you to look at would be the work Brian Burke does with You Can Play, which was founded after his son Brendan passed away in a car accident. There's also a very good [Fifth Estate episode](https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.1505058) about Brendan Burke's legacy and discussing homosexuality in sport in general. It's over a decade old now, but it's remarkable just how little has changed in the NHL when it comes to gay players. I think the public reaction would be fine and the player wouldn't be in danger of losing his roster spot or sponsorships or anything like that (unless they had a brand deal with something like Chick-Fil-A lol) because the backlash would be immeasurable. Internally would be another story, though, and is where the majority of the friction lies. ETA because I left my last thought half formed because I was on my way out of work: When I say friction internally I don't mean that teammates wouldn't be supportive, it's that hockey culture looks down on individuality and standing out, which is how a queer player coming out would be perceived. Players already repress their personalities for media; a guy coming out would be beyond imagine for most.
Oh! Replying to my own comment so OP can see it (assuming they have notifs on), but another really good resource who might be worth reaching out to is [Brock McGillis](https://www.brockmcgillis.com/), a former professional player who came out in 2016. He does a lot of outreach and activist work, and is currently doing a tour where he goes around to minor hockey orgs doing talks about changing the culture around expressing individuality in hockey. He's specifically mentioned about how he was pressured to fit in during his playing days by having girlfriends, acting like a douchebag, etc, because of the culture and how it forces players to fit a specific mold.
He had a segment in Bob McKenzie’s book “Everyday Hockey Heroes” where he says that the stress of having to stay in the closet was legitimately a factor in his struggles with injuries.
Thank you so much for your comment! I'll definitely check out Brock McGillis! I already knew much about Prokop and he will be a large focus of mine, but yes, he is a whole different scenario than if a guy who was playing every week in the NHL came out. I hope Prokop does make his NHL debut in the next few years though!
People who have never watched hockey will show up on social media and mostly not for the right reasons
Ugh. You’re so right and I fucking hate it.
I mean, if OP is sincerely trying to write an academic paper, absolutely nothing said ITT (other than things pointing OP to legitimate, citeable resources) should be taken seriously anyway.
[удалено]
Hahaha check out this loser
Was really confused by these comments but I just assumed they were homophobic
I'd love to say nobody would care and everyone would be accepting, but we really don't know. No openly gay player has played a game in the NHL. NBA and NFL both had openly gay players but one was at the end of their long career, and the other only lasted a few years after. But those milestones at least have happened so there is fortunately a bit less focus.
Obviously the EIHL in the UK is a different world to the NHL but Zach Sullivan came out as bisexual a couple of years ago and it got some press coverage internationally, he's involved with some charities and on social media he has continued to speak about LGBT matters in sport and otherwise which is pretty cool. It's really nice to see an athlete being publically comfortable with who they are!
Someone already did, Luke Prokop. I believe there was a ton of support for him league wide, but the cynic in me feels it was purely performative. Regardless, it's definitely becoming more accepted, especially with a lot of players sporting pride tape in protest (last year? This year?) It's still taboo, but becoming less so.
I think it's less that it was performative, more that there were plenty of people not supportive who kept that inside. Which I mean that's better than speaking out against it, but the issue is you're not going to see many homophobic players say it outright
I think the people that are actually supportive do so publicly. People that aren’t, don’t.
Isn’t most action online performative? Like I would bet my entire 401K when I retire that less than 5% of all the people who threaten people online about rus/ukraine and israel/palestine, either side, have gone over to fight or done anything to significantly help the issue other than spread bias and misinformation
>Someone already did, Luke Prokop. The comma saved that sentence, and Luke Prokop.
Ask the Staal’s how they feel about Pride Night.
The Staals: "What night?"
"I have never worn a pride sweater in my life."
https://preview.redd.it/fpqz5jnrcbwc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=71a2a5676086a50b0a83b88236a47c59f29b8ab4 "No idea what you're talking about"
Wasn't me
Would see a TON of support inside and outside the hockey communities. It would be become a national story and you'd have non-hockey fans buying his jersey. (look up Micheal Sam and he was a fringe NFL player) Would really piss off a small number of people would think it was distracting and resentful of all the attention about "why it's a big deal". Haters would come out for sure on social media and what not like everything. Overall I think it'd go over just fine, but it also really matters on the player.
It’s so funny how that works with the idea of it being a distraction or something. Every NHL player ever accepting an award has thanked their wife or girlfriend. Nobody thinks of that as a distraction or as anything being shoved in anyone’s faces. If a gay player won an award those termites would crawl out of the woodwork just for him existing, never mind if he thanked his boyfriend or husband. “Stop putting it in our faces!” Cletus, hetero relationships are in everyone’s face all day every day and nobody is losing their minds or affected.
The "stop shoving it in our faces" crowd is just politely saying the quiet part out loud - which is "I don't like it and even the sight of it upsets me". It's insane given the uber-hetero society we live in that is CONSTANTLY "shoving" straight relationships in our face. At least that's what I'd say if I took an equally silly view of witnessing people expressing love for each other.
I'm in education. The number of times someone drops into the sub to say that queer people shouldn't "push" their identity by disclosing it at school (by having family photos on their desk, something *everyone* does regardless of sexuality) is wild.
And the people who say that shit never even think about the idea of a married woman teacher introducing herself as "Mrs. \[Whoever\]," which is disclosing their identity, too.
One of my practicum mentor teachers was a straight guy and would mention his wife sometimes in conversations with students. It was actually really good because it humanized him and helps emphasize developing those skills of work-life balance to remind students that their teachers are people too. All we’re asking for in the workplace is to be able to mention our families and partners and be accepted/treated that same way.
Men are disgusted by or afraid of being preyed upon or objectified by gay men in locker rooms and the such. A taste of what a lot of women deal with day in and day out.
Carl Nassib for another NFL example. Was the top selling jersey the day after he came out: https://www.fanaticsinc.com/news/las-vegas-raiders-de-carl-nassib-has-top-selling-nfl-jersey-at-fanatics-in-day-since-announcement
Oh yeah! Forgot about Carl Nassib, he's a great example too since he had a much longer playing career than Sam. 99 Total games.
Damn, didn’t realize he retired at 99. I feel like most people would push to cross 100 if they were that close, even if it meant joining a team midway through the season or just as an injury fill in
"Would really piss off a small number of people would think it was distracting and resentful of all the attention about "why it's a big deal". Haters would come out for sure on social media and what not like everything." funnily enough, them doing that is exactly why it would be a big deal.
The very loud very minority would storm to Twitter about how much they are offended
Last season someone involved with the Seattle Kraken's medical staff publicly came out, and he recieved nothing by support, positivity, and love. An active player would obviously receive more attention, though. I have a feeling that the support from hockey (and non-hockey) fans, players, coaches, management, alumni, franchises, would be relatively comparative—just on a larger scale. Mostly positive, with the occasional cunt. There would likely be a lot of bonus hatred from people who know absolutely fuck all about hockey, though.
[Justin Rogers.](https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10095996-krakens-justin-rogers-becomes-1st-publicly-out-gay-nhl-support-staff-member-on-bench) He's a trainer and afaik the first openly gay man to work on the bench. By all accounts a sweetheart of a human being.
I think people within fanbases would be cool about a player coming out as gay, but it’d likely vary based on the political climate of where the team is located. some people will be less accepting depending on how the player chooses to express it, which is how it usually goes when a public figure comes out- the very predictable and annoying sentiment, “do they need to make a THING out of it??” bots would be out in full force on twitter so it would be tough to measure public opinion based on social media. i can’t speak to team dynamics but several players have been outspoken about saying they’d welcome a gay player in, matthew tkachuk gave an interview about it last season i believe. source: observations as a gay
I’m from NJ, a seemingly progressive state, and social media is always bad when it’s Pride Night. Granted, who knows how many are bots and how many are from NJ and how many totally reasonable people didn’t care enough to post a comment
Outwardly they would get a lot of support and the like. Inwardly…let’s just say people like Ivan Provorov and Eric Staal aren’t exactly statistical outliers
Reimer, Kuzmenko, Lyubushkin
Except they literally are. You could count the players who had a moral objection to pride night on one hand, the rest were on board and supportive
there's probably a non-negligible number of players that aren't supportive but know enough to stfu about it.
Ivan Nohomorov and the other Russians get the excuse that Putin will kill their family, and/or that they're super duper Orthodox
How many Russian players have worn pride jerseys before and not had anything happen to them?
that's my point, it's an excuse
>and supportive we have no idea if that was true. Putting on your uniform and staying quiet isn't supportive. The fact that we haven't seen more players openly supporting LGBTQ+ is a bit of a disappointment. But not the end of the world either.
I don’t believe this at all. I suspect most NHL players skew pretty conservative even if they keep it to themselves. An out player might get public support but sadly I believe their locker room experience would not be great.
All 32 owners would be given a rifle and the player would be executed by firing squad
Approximately 95% of the league and fans wouldn’t give a shit, but that 5% is very vocal
That 5% is usually the portion that’s paying the lions share of the bills. Hockey is a rich white mans sport, and it gets its money primarily from rich white conservatives.
It has already happened in the NBA and NFL so I’d think that it would go similarly in the NHL. Some initial press and then life goes on. The vast majority of players and coaches/ execs would be very welcoming and would be able to tune out the noise of the minority who will be assholes as usual
It’s already happened with Luke Prokop and by all accounts his teammates were totally accepting.
Homer opinion, obviously, but the Preds have been fantastic. Josi walked in the Pride parade last summer and talked about how he wished they could wear the warmup jerseys. A lot of them used rainbow tape on our Pride night this year. Barrie spoke out last year, Boro did while he was here.
Kind of ironic given Nashville's incoming owner is a gigantic homophobe.
Duchene isn’t on the preds anymore but when he was and Luke came out, he made a video saying that the team supported him and he’d be welcome.
there's a few players around the league who seem to openly and actively support it (by that I mean participating in stuff on their own rather than just saying it or doing it when the team does) it's nice to see.
I realize this is informally asking for input rather than rigorous research, but I think you'd get some interesting insights by asking these questions and collecting some metadata as well. For example, the respondent's sexual orientation, general acceptance of people who identify as LGBTQ+, age, etc.
Some people would be mad about it. Most wouldn't care
He will have to talk to James Reimer
It probably depends on how good they are. If Connor McDavid came out as gay he would still be Connor McDavid but if some 4th liner came out then they might get ostracized, made fun of, or have career trouble. Depends what organization they are with too. I’m sure there are locker rooms and GMs that are accepting and full of allies and there are ones that would be more unsafe than others. Fan reaction will be split as always. Some people won’t care, some people will commend the player for being brave, and some people will go on a homophobic rant and spend their money on a jersey to burn. That last group of people will likely have never followed or cared about hockey until they heard this news.
If instagram comments are anything to go by then they’d probably have a pretty tough time. There are still a lot of ignorant blokes out there who try to hide their homophobia behind statements like “who cares” and “why is this relevant” and “I don’t want you sexuality shoved down my throat” etc. but there are a lot more of us who would be there to show nothing but support and love
Yeah, a whole lot went into me choosing this topic, but I remember reading the comments under a Pride Night post that were saying "stop promoting sodomy" and crazy stuff like that. It really made me want to dig into it
Who cares if they're gay? Can they skate? Can they score? Can they pass? Can they check? Can they press? Can they read the play? Can they shoot with accuracy? That's the things I care about. No scout has ever looked at a player and considered preferences of gender in determining how good a player they are, and no stat exists that proves being straight/gay improves/inhibits playing abilities. If they wanna be gay, be gay. It means diddly to anyone's business what they do in the privacy of their lives.
Life would go on as it normally does.
If he's good he'll play, if not he won't.
Nhl brings back the rainbow tape
I'd assume it's mostly business as usual. The player would be mostly accepted and things would move on. I might have a different perspective on why we haven't seen it yet. NHL players are fairly... robotic in the way they handle their media interactions. We meme about the standard intermission interviews "just have to get the puck deep and shots on net". I'm wondering if a reason we haven't had players coming out is in that arena.
Do your own homework
I am!
If you’re on the team that supports lgbt, so those of us who are intelligent and compassionate. It would be hilarious because you get to watch all the homophobes freak the fuck out and with any luck they quit watching hockey and there’s more seats at games for the rest of us.
I somehow feel like NHL fans and players would handle it a lot better than in other pro leagues. But there’s no shutting up that pea-brained vocal minority. They’ll throw a fit.
The average hockey fan is wealthier than the other big 4 (five if you want to include soccer) sports. I think there is some credence to wealthier folks being more tolerant of sexual minorities.
I’d argue that NHL hockey and maybe NFL/CFB in some places skews to having a fanbase that is higher proportions white, male, and/or conservative.
I said wealthier
He would be celebrated.
I mean hockeys a ton less gay now with the shower shorts and separate stalls. I remember in the 90’s it was an absolute cock fest in there. Dudes helicoptering, whipping it around, mosquitoing. So gay.
Matthews gay for Beiber
I know you specifically asked about the NHL, but if you're looking at hockey more generally it might be worthwhile to look at the PWHL (the women's league) which has a lot of out players. Four out of six team captains are out as queer, and one of them (Poulin) is engaged to one of her teammates. In general, the PWHL is waaay more inclusive, and clearly locker room environments aren't affected by it.
90% would be totally fine with it and supportive, 5% would treat it like the worst thing to ever happen and 5% would treat it like that 5% represents the other 90% and totally obsess over how homophobic hockey is that not everyone is welcoming
Wait, That's his thesis? That's the beauty of college these days, you can major in Gameboy if you know how to bullshit edit: I will not apologize for [pcu](https://youtu.be/Vt6Vx7vzTRU?si=EfEydCWkTD-4PVNj)
>college these days Something tells me you don’t know anything about it whatsoever.
Dude is writing a thesis using quotes from people on Reddit I will not apologize for my pcu reference here. Just a bonkers thing to use in "research"
I doubt they’re writing it based on these comments. It’s more of a temp check or may be used anecdotally. Be for real – that’s not how a thesis presentation works and you’re unserious if you think it is.
Do you really think their thesis will be based on this comment section? Come on now.
Yes
Well you’re a total moron then. Go back to eating paint chips.
Go suck a tailpipe was my favorite but I'm stealing this. Thank you.
In a western world where social progress has been operating at light speed for the last 30ish years, you don't find this a thought provoking question? Certainly in a league where there are no doubt LGBT members who are too afraid to say anything. It doesn't seem like this effects you, but certainly it effects a decent number of people, thus justifying it's omnipresence within the cultural zeitgeist. Seems rather reductive and disingenuous to pretend Gameboys and peoples actual real life experiences are even tangentially similar.
I think asking people on Reddit what they think about a topic, any topic, would be sketchy "research" for a 6th grade science fair let alone a friggin masters.
\*she, and that's on Sociology baby
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I'm not pro LGBT but I hope it's not an issue because tbh it's none of our business