New York Rangers chose to not have players wear a rainbow jersey for their team designed to welcome LGBT hockey fans to Madison Square Garden for the team’s game on Jan. 27.
The club had announced that the players would wear LGBT-Pride-inspired rainbow jerseys for the team’s warmup against the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
Instead, the team abandoned the rainbow.
You Can Play, the non-profit pushing for more LGBT inclusion in sports that has its foundation in hockey, said they wish some players wore the rainbow logo even while others may have refused.
Statement on the NY Rangers Pride Night pic.twitter.com/2ysT75T7Q9
— You Can Play (@YouCanPlayTeam) January 29, 2023
The Rangers shared a statement about the utter disaster with USA Today:
Our organization respects the LGBTQ+ community and we are proud to bring attention to important local community organizations as part of another great Pride Night. In keeping with our organization’s core values, we support everyone’s individual right to respectfully express their beliefs.
It is totally insane that an NHL club would claim inclusion while supporting unnamed players overtly rejecting the LGBT community.
All the Pride jersey signifies is a welcome message in sports to the LGBT community that has long felt excluded.
But… nope.
The Rangers are on record giving a big thumbs up to people rejecting LGBT fans in their arena.
It’s pretty unfathomable.
