03-28-2024, 04:18 PMboom Wrote: The reason why that question is so important for me is that when people shoot down the Pride nights in real life on places like r/hockey, it's never just because they don't like rainbows. It's always paired with other bigoted misconceptions like saying that queer people are the real intolerant ones or that they're the reason why the jerseys are gone because they refused to just sit back and let the homophobic players be homophobic - it's a window to their actual beliefs.

I actually privately reached out to one of the users who posted a negative response on that question a while back and their response in that DM immediately raised red flags. It's a question that has such a low bar to clear and some users still manage to trip over it. I'm sure there are homophobic players in real life, but until 2023 they just didn't put their own feelings above that of the team trying to make a welcoming gesture. Reimer and the Staals weren't clowned just for not wearing the jerseys, they were laughed at because the responses that they chose to put out of their own volition walked right up to the line of calling being queer a choice or lifestyle.

I know all of this Boom… And I get the reasoning for it. I think having to ask the question is dumb. Which is why it is even more important for GMs and LR management to actually even weed out the bigotry, hate and evil. The question itself to me doesn’t do that either way.