Eric and Marc Staal, a pair of Florida Panthers gamers who additionally occur to be brothers, declined to take part of their crew’s warmups session forward of their satisfaction evening recreation towards the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Staal brothers selected to not take part as a result of they really feel “wearing a pride jersey goes against their Christian beliefs.”
“After many thoughts, prayers and discussions we have chosen not to wear a pride jersey tonight,” Eric and Marc said of their determination. “We feature no judgement on how folks select to reside their lives, and consider that every one folks ought to be welcome in all points of the sport of hockey.
“Having said that, we feel that by us wearing a pride jersey it goes against our Christian beliefs.”

The Staal brothers turned simply the most recent NHL gamers to protest sporting Satisfaction Night time jerseys.
Final week, San Jose Sharks goalie James Reimer declined to put on a satisfaction evening jersey, additionally citing his spiritual beliefs. On Wednesday, the Chicago Blackhawks introduced that they had determined to not put on satisfaction evening jerseys on Sunday as deliberate due to lately enacted legal guidelines in Russia that the crew felt might put their Russian gamers in jeopardy.
In January, one other Russian participant, Ivan Provarov, declined to put on a satisfaction evening jersey on account of his Christian beliefs.
In lots of respects, NHL gamers have taken the lead in protesting towards sporting satisfaction evening jerseys. Their groups, nonetheless, appear decided to proceed utilizing their numerous platforms to advance the LGBT agenda. For instance, over the weekend, the San Jose Sharks used their Twitter account to “offer information” about “gender diversity” and cultures that acknowledge “third genders.”
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