This is a story about a hockey jersey.

But it’s more than that. Much more, actually. It’s a story about a community that’s long struggled for visibility and acceptance. It’s about workers’ rights, societal shifts, free speech … and the unlikely space occupied by a promotional product at the nexus of it all.

It has to do with the Pride Nights hosted this season by teams around the National Hockey League. These events have become a staple on the professional sports calendar – a synergistic combo of civic mindedness (leveraging the visibility of sports teams to support the LGBTQ+ community) and tidy business (since those nights are a popular attraction that boost ticket sales).

As in years past, this season’s NHL Pride Nights featured many off-ice events and charitable initiatives hosted by the franchises. In addition to that, players from the various teams wore specially designed Pride-themed warm-ups before the start of games. And that’s where the controversy started.

On January 16, Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov declined to participate in warm-ups because of his refusal to wear the team’s Pride jersey: a black sweater with rainbow-colored player names and numbers. Provorov cited his Russian Orthodox religion when explaining his refusal to participate.

Eleven days later, the New York Rangers declined to appear in Pride warm-ups even though the team announced plans to wear the jerseys and auction them off to LGBTQ+ charities.

NYC Pride unaware of Rangers' jersey decision: The New York Rangers did not wear Pride Night jerseys or use rainbow stick tape during warmups on Friday night, despite promoting them in ticket sales materials leading up to the game. https://t.co/YRp1VYE7rZ pic.twitter.com/rTAvNlQYM7

— JPDAILYSPORTS (@JCPGATA) January 29, 2023

Similar situations followed in Minnesota (though players, like many other teams, did use rainbow stick tape) and Chicago, where the Blackhawks reportedly scrapped their jerseys to protect players who have ties to Russia. (Strict anti-gay laws were passed in the country late last year by President Vladimir Putin and Russian lawmakers.)

In San Jose, goalie James Reimer sat out the warm-ups, citing his Christian religious beliefs, as did brothers Eric and Marc Staal of the Florida Panthers. “I strongly believe that every person has value and worth, and the LGBTQIA+ community, like all others, should be welcomed in all aspects in the game of hockey,” Reimer said in a statement. Buffalo Sabres defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin, Montreal Canadiens forward Denis Gurianov and Vancouver Canucks winger Andrei Kuzmenko expressed fear for the safety of their families and retribution from Russia in their decisions not to participate.

(To be clear, while all NHL teams hosted Pride Nights, not every team wore special warm-up jerseys, and several wore the NHL Pride jerseys without opt-outs or incidents.)

The @nhlflames are ready for pride night unveiling their new warm up jerseys for tonight's game against the @LAKings. #pride #rtbnnews #nhl #calgary #flames #hockey #kings pic.twitter.com/hQkCDn4brr

— Chris Douglas (@ChrisDouglasn) March 28, 2023

As the same scene repeatedly played out at arenas during the season, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was forced to address the issue multiple times. “Overwhelmingly, our league and our teams support Pride Night,” Bettman told media members before a Seattle Kraken game in late March, as reported by the Seattle Times. “But there are some players – not most, far from it – that have made personal decisions and personal choices and you have to respect that.”

Similar instances have occurred in other sports. Last June, five pitchers on the Tampa Bay Rays refused to wear Pride jerseys owing to their Christian beliefs. And in 2017, a U.S. National women’s soccer team player (and avowed Christian) missed games in Sweden and Norway for “personal reasons” – games where the team wore Pride jerseys.

But unlike those cases, the NHL’s Pride Night controversies exploded out of the sports page and rippled across mainstream and social media. It was another dark reminder of the sport’s enduring lack of diversity and long history with homophobia – a legacy it has tried to actively erase, specifically with the NHL’s launch of its “Hockey Is For Everyone” initiative in 2017.

Plenty of criticism was levied: at the players who didn’t participate, at the teams who bungled the decision to wear (or not wear) the jerseys, and at the league for pushing players into a visible role of allyship that not everyone was comfortable with. The overwhelming consensus, to put it mildly, was that it was mishandled.

Promotional products are a way to show someone’s passion and support. Billions of dollars are funneled into this industry because people willingly choose to wear or use something that displays their allegiance. So what happens if the reverse occurs – if employees or members of an organization are forced to represent a cause, especially one they don’t agree with?

A Moral and Legal Quandary

The NHL’s debacle cast a cloud over what were supposed to be great celebrations. What message was being sent to the LGBTQ+ community? Many outlets had their takes. (“‘Hockey is for everyone’ really rang hollow,” declared Jim Buzinski of Outsports.)

But what about those in the LGBTQ+ community who could view the situation – and especially the actions of the players – through the lens of promo?

Instead of criticism and vitriol, their sentiments were dotted with grace and understanding.

“All these things are a two-way street,” says Monica Maglaris, co-founder of Liberty Print Co., a certified women- and LGBTQ-owned contract decorating shop in Beacon Falls, CT. “Diversity and inclusion starts with diversity of thought. It’s not a monolith. If you’re going to celebrate diversity, you have to include the people who may not agree with you.”

It’d be a different discussion, Maglaris adds, if the players verbally attacked the LGBTQ+ community. But she sees the act of opting out as “a respectful way to dissent.”

“If someone decided to opt out and not wear the Pride uniform for a warm-up, that’s not taking away someone’s right to have a Pride event or for others to participate,” she adds.

“If you’re going to celebrate diversity, you have to include the people who may not agree with you.” Monica Maglaris, Liberty Print Co.

Elise Lindborg and Kelli Henderson run Brand|Pride, a lesbian-owned, LGBTQ-certified distributor in Seattle. Lindborg comes from a sports background (she managed the U.S. National Rowing Team in the ’80s and ’90s), and the couple counts themselves as avid sports fans who routinely attend games.

“One of the nights we’ve always enjoyed going to is Pride Night,” says Henderson, the company’s COO. “You know there are celebrations happening, and you do feel invited and included. You feel like it’s a golden ticket invitation – or a rainbow ticket invitation. To hear there’s that much controversy around it, it’s just kind of sad.”

Still, Henderson doesn’t find complete fault with the players, noting the NHL's role and the influence it exerted on teams and players to wear the jerseys.

“I believe in freedom of expression,” she says, “and a corporation or organization forcing somebody to express something that they don’t agree with, that doesn’t necessarily sit well with me either.”

It’s not clear if the NHL required teams to wear the jerseys (the league hasn’t responded to inquiries by ASI Media). But beyond being a moral quandary, any sort of mandate imposed by the NHL would put the league on shaky legal ground. “I think the players are well within their rights just under labor law,” says Michael Elkins, a labor and employment lawyer at MLE Law in Fort Lauderdale, FL. For one, players are contract employees and part of a union, and there’s no indication the league got approval from the players’ union or collectively bargained such actions. Had players been disciplined for their refusal (and no players were), Elkins believes they would’ve been able to successfully file a grievance through the union.

It doesn’t even matter what the cause is – the same rules would apply for something as benign as Save the Whales, Elkins suggests. “Representing the team doesn’t mean you’re automatically aligned with whatever causes the team mandates,” he says.

“I haven’t come across a situation where a company says, ‘You employees are going to all support this cause.’ And if I were providing advice on that, I would tell a company ‘Don’t do that, it’s a terrible idea.’” Michael Elkins, MLE Law

Mandate or not, it’s clear the league failed to address these potential issues before they mushroomed into controversy. “Ultimately I feel it comes down to communication,” Maglaris says. “If an organization is going to make an effort to promote diversity and inclusion, perhaps they should have a broader discussion first with the people that make up that organization.”

When pressed for similar instances in Corporate America or elsewhere, Elkins admits it’s new territory for him. Companies have certainly disciplined employees for bringing causes into the workplace, he says – such as a trio of former Whole Foods employees who were fired for wearing Black Lives Matter masks at work. But not the reverse.

“I haven’t come across a situation where a company says, ‘You employees are going to all support this cause,’” says Elkins. “And if I were providing advice on that, I would tell a company ‘Don’t do that, it’s a terrible idea.’”

The Growth of DEI & Supplier Diversity

The NHL controversy obscures a key detail: the fact that there was a series of Pride events in the first place. What once was novel is now commonplace, as DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) spending and initiatives have shot up in recent years. A Nov. 2022 survey by Workday and Sapio Research found that more than three quarters of organizations globally (76%) have a budget for DEI initiatives. When asked about brands that release Pride Month-themed merch, 44% of U.S. adults (including 40% who identified as heterosexual or straight) said they support the action, according to a June 2022 survey from Morning Consult. “Every year it’s been bigger and bigger,” says Maglaris, who started her company with co-founder Holly Sumner in 2004.

Companies are also increasing their commitment to spending with diverse vendors. One metric: Supplier.io found that 93% of companies believe engaging with diverse suppliers has a positive impact, compared to 82% in 2021. “We used to knock on the doors of corporations and often be ignored,” Henderson recalls.

Brand|Pride first noticed a shift in 2018 and 2019. But it was the summer of 2020 when Henderson and Lindborg really started to broadly see "inclusion on an economic level." 

"That’s when it really started taking a turn," says Henderson. "And the companies we started talking to were like ‘Yeah, you’re right, we should be spending intentionally because of the economic impact it will have on your LGBTQ community.’” The distributor has a phrase for companies who spend on Pride but just use their traditional vendors: “rainbow washing.”

When Lindborg and Henderson started their company over two decades ago (named Zippy Dogs – “your brand companion”), their LGBTQ status wasn’t at the forefront. “That was the year 2000 and we didn’t want to be known as a gay branded merchandise company,” Henderson says. “We didn’t see any value in it at that time and we were concerned we would be discriminated against and potentially lose clients.” Now it’s become such a differentiator that the couple rebranded their company as Brand|Pride in 2020, complete with a rainbow unicorn logo.

“We used to knock on the doors of corporations and often be ignored.” Kelli Henderson, Brand|Pride

Like Brand|Pride, Liberty Print Co. is certified by the NGLCC (National LGBT Chamber of Commerce). Having that status “worried me a little bit at first that it would just be compartmentalized to Pride season,” says Maglaris. “But I’ve seen us start to branch out where these companies are coming to us for more and more and more.”

Maglaris admits her company hasn’t been overly aggressive in courting business using its LGBTQ-certified status. Still, clients are readily finding Liberty Print. “I’m amazed by how many companies are seeking us out [as a diverse vendor],” she says. “That’s been really surprising.”

With social causes, the promotional products themselves have the power to uplift as well. Maglaris recalls the 2008 election and witnessing the rush of diverse designs that were coming through her shop. The increasing use of merch to support Pride and other causes, she says, fosters camaraderie and a feeling of belonging.

“For so long merch has been your favorite band or your favorite business or your favorite sports team,” she says. “And now it’s ‘This is my favorite cause,’ or ‘This is what I’m passionate about, and I’m going to wear it on my shirt.’ You’re going to find people who are like-minded. It brings people together. And that’s a beautiful thing.”