BUFFALO, N.Y. — Ilya Lyubushkin is citing an anti-gay Kremlin law and fears of retribution at home in Russia for electing not to participate in the Buffalo Sabres‘ pregame warmup on the team’s Pride night, when players are expected to wear rainbow-colored jerseys in support of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The team announced Lyubushkin’s decision Monday. Lyubushkin is from Moscow, where he has family and visits regularly in the offseason.
The 28-year-old defenseman is expected to play Monday night against Montreal despite not taking part in warmups. Other players plan to use Pride tape on their sticks in addition to wearing rainbow-colored jerseys. The Sabres as an organization are so intent on promoting Pride night that they changed their social media avatar to feature their logo encircled by a rainbow-colored outline.
“We continue to advocate for under-represented groups in hockey and hope that our Pride Night, like many across the league, sparks meaningful conversations and encourages support for the LGBTQIA+ community,” the team said in a statement.
“Our team feels strongly that one way to garner support is through wearing Pride jerseys and using Pride tape in warmups,” the team said. Without mentioning Lyubushkin specifically, the Sabres added: “We are are aware of general threats to certain players, and understand their decision to forego risk.”
Sabres captain Kyle Okposo, whose father is from Nigeria and faced discrimination for being Black upon immigrating to Minnesota, defended his teammate while citing the importance of celebrating a Pride night.
“We support ‘Boosh’ (Lyubushkin) in this room, and we want to make sure that he’s comfortable and we respect his decisions,” Okposo said.
“I have empathy for my teammate, for Boosh in the situation he’s in, but think about it: If there’s a closeted gay member of a team, and you have to have empathy for that person, too, in that situation,” he said. “We have to realize that and that’s part of being accepting, and that’s why we want to be accepting.”
Okposo also reiterated what he told The Associated Press last week when he said he’s sensitive to Russian players’ concerns because “we’re frankly not capable of understanding, because we haven’t been there.”
It has not just been Russian players opting out of warmups that have put Pride nights around the NHL in the spotlight in recent months.
Ivan Provorov of the Philadelphia Flyers, James Reimer of the San Jose Sharks and Eric and Marc Staal of the Florida Panthers all refused to take part in warmups with Pride-themed jerseys, citing religious beliefs, while the New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks opted not to have players wear them at all. Reimer and the Staal brothers are Canadian.
The Blackhawks, like Lyubushkin, cited a law passed last year in Russia that expanded the restrictions on supporting LGBTQIA+ rights in the country as their reasoning.
The Florida Panthers — whose star goaltender, Sergei Bobrovsky, is Russian — went forward with plans to wear Pride-themed jerseys on Thursday night before their home game against Toronto. Bobrovsky took part.
Sabres coach Don Granato said he left the discussion and decision to his players on how to handle Pride night.
“It was nice for our group to really take an event like this and have a lot of meaningful conversations, even leading up to it based on what’s going around the world — around the U.S. and around the world — and actually have talks (about) more than hockey,” Granato said. “I think the authenticity of our group has been really a silver-lining positive of the event that we’re excited to have tonight.”
Okposo said what he found important was that Sabres players were engaging in discussions on a sensitive topic.
“I think that is something that as a society as a whole, we’re still grappling with, and as a hockey community, we’re still grappling with as well,” Okposo said. “But we’re getting better. And we are going to continue to have these conversations and continue to get better. But it’s extremely important to have this night tonight.”