Russian player Ilya Lyubushkin cites safety concerns as defenceman refuses participation in Pride Night festivities
Sabres defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin refuses to participate in the pride night celebration, citing religious beliefs and safety concerns linking back to his country.
Follow Us
Ilya Lyubushkin [Image Credit: Sabre Noise]
Pride night topics have currently captured the NHL space, dividing the players and teams into their respective groups. Since January, there’s been a lot of players and even teams who have refused to wear pride-themed jerseys citing religious beliefs or safety concerns.
The latest player to join the group is Buffalo Sabres defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin who has Russian origins. He stated that during the offseason he visits his home country so the defenceman doesn’t want to go against their country’s beliefs.
Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin penned a law that goes against celebrating LGBTQ communities in any form or action. The same safety issues were cities by the Chicago Blackhawks who backed down from pride night celebrations due to safety concerns for the players of Russian origins in their team.
Related: Luke Prokop “disappointed” with NHL action following James Reimer pride jersey controversy
Ilya Lyubushkin cites safety concerns for his refusal to participate in Pride Night
![Ilya Lyubushkin [Image Credit: Buffalo News]](https://firstsportz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Q_1680005302-1024x768.jpg)
On Monday, the team released a statement that noted that they as an organization will be celebrating LGBTQ communities but will understand players’ personal opinions to back out, especially related to their safety.
The statement read, “The Buffalo Sabres are proud to continue to support the LGBTQIA+ community as allies by hosting our third annual Pride night game. It is of the utmost importance for us to continue to use our platform to strengthen our organizational goal of making hockey for everyone”.
“Consistent with previous years, our team feels strongly that one way to garner support is through wearing Pride jerseys and using Pride tape in warmups. That said, we are aware of general threats to certain players and understand their decision to forego risk.”
Prior to their game against Montreal Canadiens, Lyubushkin’s teammates supported him in his decision. Sabres forward Kyle Okposo said, “I think, I don’t know if we have any Russians in this room…”
“…but as myself, as an American and as a North American, I don’t think I’m able to understand the psychological decisions that he’s going through and some of the psychological burdens that he goes through being from a different part of the world”.
“I don’t think it’s fair to judge him in an apples-to-apples sense. We support Boosh in this room, and we want to make sure that he’s comfortable and we respect his decisions. I think that passing judgment on him without trying to understand the full scope of his decision would be unwise. We support him.”
The first to reject a pride night jersey was Philadelphia Flyers Ivan Provorov, followed by several team decisions to reject the celebrations. San Jose Sharks James Reimer also refused to partake in any warmups concerning pride nights, followed by the refusal of the Staal brothers.
Recently, Reimer spoke on his decision during an interview, “I think I would just refer back to my statement on that one. My beliefs in Christ, what I think the Bible says on that stuff.”
“But people, regardless of their orientation or their activity or whatnot, they have value and worth, I would do my best to love them, the best way I know how”. “I don’t think there’s a limit per se. And it might be, I don’t know if it’s hard for people to understand or whatnot.”
“But what I said, especially the last statement, everyone has value and worth. I’ll tell you, I wish people knew that wasn’t just a line I said. I have a heart for people. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past, what you do, and whatnot.”
“I don’t want to keep [referring to my statement] over and over again, right? But obviously, I have my beliefs and things that I can’t personally endorse. But man, you love the person, you try and do whatever you can to get to know them or whatnot. That’s what I have to say, I guess.”
“It’s not that I don’t care, but it’s not a decision where on that Friday night I was like, ‘Oh, this is what I’m going to do.’ It’s something that I thought about for a long time, probably almost a year. I tried to go to incredible lengths to try and say something as sensitively and decently as possible and try to understand all points. I tried to take all of that into account”.
In case you missed:
Oilers star Connor McDavid voices strong “support for Pride Night” amidst ongoing NHL controversies
Stay Updated!
Kaushani Chatterjee
(2156 Articles Published)