Philadelphia Flyers Player Refuses to Participate in Team’s LGBT Pride Celebration, Citing Christian Faith

Caroline Downey
·3 min read
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A player for the Philadelphia Flyers invoked his Christian faith Tuesday night in explaining why he refused to observe the team’s pride night commemoration.

Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov refused to join his teammates as they took to the ice during pre-game warmups wearing rainbow jerseys and carrying hockey sticks wrapped in rainbow tape, symbolizing solidarity with the LGBT community. After the festivities, Provorov played in the game against the Anaheim Ducks, which Philadelphia won 5-2.

“I respect everybody and I respect everybody’s choices. My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion,” which is Russian Orthodox, the second largest Christian church, Provorov told reporters after the game. He made no other comments.

Flyers head coach John Tortorella defended Provorov’s right to exercise his beliefs. “He’s being true to himself and to his religion. It’s one thing I respect about Provy, he’s always true to himself,” Tortorella said.

When a reporter asked whether he considered not playing Provorov as punishment for his decision to boycott the Pride celebration, Tortorella replied, “No.”

Pride-themed decorations and lighting filled the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, the Daily Mail reported.

“The Philadelphia Flyers organization is committed to inclusivity and is proud to support the LGBTQ+ community,” the team said in a statement after the game. “Many of our players are active in their support of local LGBTQ+ organizations, and we were proud to host our annual Pride Night again this year. The Flyers will continue to be strong advocates for inclusivity and the LGBTQ+ community.”

The National Hockey League has aggressively embraced LGBT activism and diversity-equity-inclusion initiatives in recent years, hosting pride-month campaigns and asking employees to declare their pronouns in company communications.

The organization also recently hosted a transgender tournament.

“The NHL is proud to support this past weekend’s Team Trans Draft Tournament in Middleton, Wisconsin. This was the first tournament comprised entirely of transgender and nonbinary players, with around 80 folks participating! #HockeyIsForEveryone #NHLPride,” the NHL tweeted in November.

Critics quickly pointed out the dangers associated with allowing biological males on the ice with women.

“Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Nonbinary identity is real,” the NHL wrote in a reply.

Last week, the NHL advertised an upcoming Florida conference for “diverse” job-seekers looking to pursue careers in the sport that was open only to racial minorities and women. After receiving backlash from the DeSantis administration, which demanded the “discriminatory provisions” be removed from the promotion, the league opened the event to all applicants.

While the summit was previously exclusive to female, black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, and/or disabled registrants, it is now only to “encourage those that historically have not been exposed to hockey.”

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