NHL's Pride nights collide with LGBTQ+ political climate

Sports leagues and teams often use Pride nights to raise the visibility and acceptance of LGBTQ+ people — as well as sell them tickets — and the NHL has been a leader. They can include special jerseys designed by LGBTQ+ artists, performances, information tables, even drag performances. And they're largely a hit.

But six NHL players recently opted out of wearing rainbow-coloured jerseys on their teams' Pride nights for the first time, leading the league's commissioner to say it is weighing the future of the events.

That worries some fans and LGBTQ+ supporters, who say it's a sign that a political climate that has led to restrictions on expression, health care and transgender sports participation both in the U.S. and internationally is now threatening events that are meant to be fun and affirming.

"It's definitely fair to say that this political landscape is helping to sort of normalize people for opting out of the optional ways that they have been asked to show support for marginalized members of society," said Hudson Taylor, executive director and founder of Athlete Ally, an organization that works with teams and leagues to push for LGBTQ+ inclusivity.

Pro sports have been here before. In June, five pitchers with the Tampa Bay Rays cited their Christian faith in refusing to wear Pride jerseys, and a U.S. women's national soccer player skipped an overseas trip in 2017 when the team wore Pride jerseys and also didn't play in an NWSL game last year for the same reason.

This season, three NHL teams — Chicago, New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild — that previously wore rainbow warmups decided not to. The Rangers and Wild changed course after initially planning for players to wear rainbow-themed warmup jerseys but did not