The NHL decided in June to ban specialty jerseys for the upcoming 2023-24 season. This includes any jersey worn for Pride, military support or Hockey Fights Cancer.

This month, the NHL extended the policy by banning specialty tape, like Pride tape. While other specialty tapes have been used for military appreciation night or Hockey Fights Cancer, Pride tape has easily been the most visible and controversial. 

With the ban of Pride Tape (also a brand), the NHL is failing to recognize the importance of public expression of support: a blanket ban is the coward’s way out.

“When you make decisions like this, it’s an erasure of our community,” said Dani Bennett-Danek, league director of Twin Cities Queer Hockey Association.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the decision to ban all specialty jerseys was to avoid a “distraction.” Instead, the NHL has created a whole new problem for itself. 

“In the LGBT sports space, this is one of the most important bellwether moments I’ve seen in 25 years running Outsports; this is the bellwether moment for the community and this is one we are not going to back down from,” said Cyd Zeigler, co-founder of Outsports.com, a site that covers LGBTQ+ athletes from all sports.

The backlash was immediate, with organizations like You Can Play, Twin Cities Pride and Pride Tape all issuing statements of disapproval. 

It has been a slow progression for Pride in the NHL. Bennett-Danek thinks it is one of the last spaces in sports yet to support the LGBTQ+ community.

“I always say the last stand to homophobia in the sporting world is the NHL and the NFL,” Bennett-Danek said. 

It was not until the 2016-17 NHL season the league partnered with Pride ambassadors. Then Pride tape made its first appearance when the Edmonton Oilers used it. 

The NHL has thrown that progress out the window.

Last season some players were outspoken about not wanting to wear the Pride jersey. Some, like the Staal brothers, made a public statement that it was against their religious beliefs, even though Eric Staal had worn the jersey previously. 

The others were Russian players, who have traditionally been against supporting Pride with jerseys or tape. In 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law making it illegal to promote anything related to LGBTQ+ communities. This could be why so many Russian players were outspoken against it last season. 

The NHL making the decision during Pride month shows how tone-deaf the league is.

“I just thought to myself, could you Google? Could you have figured out when to make this announcement and done it at a better time? Can somebody pick up the phone? Call a gay person? If you don’t know how to Google and make better decisions,” Bennett-Danek said. 

While the decision to ban specialty jerseys was sweeping, it’s clear it was aimed at Pride.

“Nobody was refusing to wear the cancer jersey or the military night jersey,” said Bennett-Danek. 

While the decision to ban jerseys is bad, there is some sense behind it. Specialty jerseys become uniform. It is something that gets foisted upon every player. If someone does not want to wear the jersey, they should not have to. 

“The jersey issue affects an entire team, it’s not an individual choice … I think that they could have helped the teams navigate the topic before people started refusing to do it,” Zeigler said.

Communication is another issue for the NHL. Both the teams and the league make decisions without consulting the people who will be affected by them. 

Last season was only the second Pride night for the Minnesota Wild. When the team decided not to wear Pride jerseys last season, it was done so without any communication to the LGBTQ+ community in the Twin Cities, according to Bennett-Danek.

“Next time use your resources, call us, we could have suggested something different,” Bennett-Danek said. “We tried to explain to them that when you make those kinds of decisions in such a progressive state, it puts their relationship with the entire community behind.”

To the Wild’s credit, they continue to support the LGBTQ+ community even without Pride jerseys or now Pride Tape. 

“They are committed to our community. They give thousands and thousands of dollars to our queer community in the Twin Cities on [the] whole,” Bennett-Danek said. “There isn’t a single time that Twin Cities Pride can’t call them with a family in need, especially around the holidays. And they drop everything and make sure that that family is taken care of, that queer family is taken care of.”

The elimination of Pride tape takes away the already limited visible support for the LGBTQ+ community. Open support for the LGBTQ+ community is important, especially for the NHL, which has never had a player come out, according to Zeigler. 

“The NHL is the only league that has never had any current or former player or coach come out publicly,” Zeigler said. “They haven’t even had a former player come out publicly. And that’s what’s so tragic about this … of all the [sports] leagues that need more visibility of LGBT people, the NHL was number one and they just gave the middle finger to our community.”

It is not just that no former player has come out. No one in the league front office or executives has ever come out. 

Bennett-Danek also wants to see more support. The Minnesota Twins, White Caps and Minx have all figured out how to support Pride, according to Bennett-Danek. 

“I want you to make it bigger and better than just the 15 minutes of warm-ups and in my opinion, if the local professional hockey women’s team is doubling down, and that’s seen in our community again, it’s gonna make you look like you’re still behind,” Bennett-Danek said about the new women’s professional hockey team in Minnesota.

Since the announcement, several players have said they will still use Pride tape during warmups. The NHL has yet to announce any specifics concerning punishment if players decide to use the tape, again showing the lack of thought involved in their decision.

“Players are going to do it. And what are you gonna do? You’re gonna start fining players for this? And all that does is create more controversy and more blowback. They have started a cycle they did not anticipate,” Zeigler said. 

Zeigler said he and others will continue to speak up.

“We’re not going to shut up about it. The NHL thinks that this is going to go away. They were looking to avoid a distraction. This is going to haunt the NHL for the rest of the season. I promise,” Zeigler said.