The NHL has played a substantial role in supporting equality for LGBTQ athletes through efforts such as You Can Play, and that’s continuing with the Edmonton Oilers’ adoption of one particularly-visible sign of support: Pride Tape. The rainbow-colored tape, currently on Kickstarter (where it’s raised over $42,000 U.S., surpassing its $39,386 goal), is an initiative by the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services at the University of Alberta to reinforce to young gay players that they’re welcome in hockey. The Oilers, based in the same city as the U of A, became the first NHL team to use Pride Tape, doing so Sunday during their annual skills competition. Here’s what the tape-wrapped sticks looked like before the contest:
#PrideTape pic.twitter.com/zpIceBLt6V
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 24, 2016
You Can Play co-founder and current NHL director of player safety Patrick Burke, who was inspired to start the charity in the wake of his brother Brendan’s death in a car accident shortly after coming out publicly, tweeted out a message of support with Brendan’s words about how important it is to make hockey a safe space for all:
https://twitter.com/BurkieNHL/status/691697045929869314
The funds raised by Pride Tape will be important, but this tape and its usage in a NHL event matters on its own. While there have been plenty of NHL players speaking up for equality through interviews and videos with You Can Play and other organizations, those aren’t seen by everyone, and they can easily be ignored. Similarly, although Pride Tape has received important publicity from Canadian media outlets (including Hockey Night In Canada), and support from NHL players and executives (including Calgary Flames’ president Brian Burke, Patrick’s father), a visible on-ice symbol of a team’s commitment to supporting equality is a step further, and it’s an important one. Here’s what U of A assistant professor Dr. Kristopher Wells, the faculty director of the institute running this campaign, said in December about what they’re trying to accomplish with this tape:
We believe these six colours will help change the world of team sports. It’s a badge of support from the hockey community to LGBTQ youth,” said Kris Wells, faculty director of iSMSS and an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education.
Pride Tape is the result of a long-standing partnership between iSMSS and Edmonton-based Calder Bateman Communications, the creative team behind the acclaimed “No Homophobes”campaign that drew the world’s attention to the use of homophobic language.
Wells said Pride Tape is a way to advance that conversation, and in the world of sport in particular, considered one of the last bastions of homophobic discrimination for many LGBTQ youth. By taping a hockey stick in the rainbow colours of pride or wearing a decal, any member of the hockey community—at any level—can signal they are an ally, he said.
This isn’t all abstract, either. As Oilers’ defenceman Andrew Ference told Metro Edmonton‘s Ryan Tulmity, these kinds of campaigns show how far the hockey world has come, and the experience of a friend of Ference’s shows that they’re needed:
Oilers defenceman Andrew Ference said he’s proud to have his team endorse the idea. He said it shows how far the hockey world has come.
“This conversation wouldn’t have happened when I started playing hockey,” he said.
Ference said all of his teammates were eager to endorse the idea and set an example for the young fans who came to watch.
“We know that trickle down effect will happen to the younger kids playing the same sport,” he said.
…Ference said growing up he had a friend who stopped playing hockey, because he was gay and didn’t feel comfortable in the locker room.
“It’s something that means a lot to me, knowing that you’ve had friends who were directly affected.”
The Oilers’ involvement with this campaign is a bold step, and one that should further help promote equality in hockey. Pride Tape may have a bigger role to play there, too; it’s already shot past its funding goal, and with eight days left in the campaign, it could pull in even more and wind up in the hands of even more teams and players. It’s a powerful symbol, and the Oilers’ decision to embrace it is a big move forward for the NHL.
