great gesture

Out hockey player Luke Prokop’s fans threw a DIY Pride Night for him and the whole team joined in

By
Luke Prokop is standing on the ice in an empty hockey rink wearing a black New Balance shirt and holding a hockey stick with rainbow tape.
Luke Prokop

Luke Prokop is the only out gay active hockey player under NHL contract. Weirdly, the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League, didn’t have a Pride Night scheduled this season.

No worries! Fans took matters into their own hands and threw their own celebration. And Prokop says it’s a gesture he’ll never forget.

“It meant a lot to me,” he tells ESPN. “Seeing all the fans that enjoyed the night … the night is about them, not me. It’s about being able to come to a hockey game and feel like you’re in a safe space to watch that game.”

The NHL’s ongoing Pride Night debacles have dampened the league’s inclusion efforts, with multiple players refusing to wear rainbow jerseys during warmups. Some have cited religious reasons, while others simply haven’t commented.

For a few weeks, the NHL tried to blame Vladimir Putin’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws for the snubs, but one of the league’s top execs recently disproved that ridiculous notion by citing that only about 5% of NHL players are Russian.

The end result: the vast majority of NHL players who have participated in Pride Night festivities and support their LGBTQ+ fans are being overshadowed by a contrarian minority.

In a statement, Prokop said players who don’t wear Pride jerseys are missing the larger point.

“It’s disheartening to see some teams no longer wearing [Pride jerseys] or embracing their significance, while the focus of others has become about the players who aren’t participating rather than the meaning of the night itself,” he said.

The Thunderbirds didn’t encounter any dissenters on their fan-thrown DIY Pride Night, however. Every player put rainbow tape on their sticks during warmups, and some even kept it for the game.

It should be noted that none of Prokop’s teammates are older than 20, and the youngest player on the roster is 15. In this instance, teenagers showed more courage than multimillionaires in the NHL.

“Being on a new team this year, with a whole different group of guys, is always a little nerve-wracking,” Prokop tells ESPN. “But they all put the tape on by choice. I didn’t ask them to. Some of them even kept it on for the actual game instead of just in warmups.”

The ESPN story also explains how fans planned their Pride Night, which was held at the end of last month. One of the organizers said it felt wrong that Prokop’s team wasn’t holding one. “If there’s a team in the WHL or anywhere right now that should be having a Pride Night, it’s the team that has Luke Prokop on it,” said Jarrod Shelton.

The Thunderbirds, for what it’s worth, say Covid-related supply chain issues prevented them from scheduling one this season.

But in many respects, the beauty of the Thunderbirds’ Pride Night was its DIY vibe. Fans and players stood together for LGBTQ+ inclusion at a time when those statements are desperately needed.

The Thunderbirds won their Pride Night affair by a score of 6-3. Prokop has appeared in 43 games this season and scored four goals. He’s been chronicling his pro hockey journey on Instagram since the Nashville Predators selected him in the third round of the 2020 NHL Draft. He publicly came out as gay that summer.

While you’re here, scroll down for some highlights from his last couple of years…

Don't forget to share:

Discover more

Driven features stories and interviews highlighting the thrill of the queer journey, celebrating tenacious LGBTQers whose courage to be themselves fuels their drive to succeed.

Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...

We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock Queerty articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?

Once Monthly Annually

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated