You did it! After 20 years the team that has fought and scraped and put every ounce of heart and soul they had into the game has finally lifted the cup. The moment that happened I was sitting in a room surrounded by over 60 LGBTQIA+ hockey fans with the notifications from a similar chat room with hundreds of fans going off in my pocket. Together this dual community, one that understands both queerness and hockey, erupted into cheers and chants, hugs and high fives as we celebrated the pure unadulterated joy of watching the Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup.
The moment was electric and the days since have been filled with sharing videos from the celebrations or key plays from the playoffs, and continued admiration for the moments of humanity demonstrated across the season. While I am definitely a Carolina Hurricanes hockey fan due to your skill, I am an even bigger fan of your willingness to demonstrate humanity and vulnerability on the public stage. This year alone we heard Seth Jarvis talk about his mental health journey – showing athletes and fans – young and old, that it is okay to talk about this. We got to see the excitement Walker had as a new dad and his ability to witness his daughter’s birth due to the understanding within Canes leadership that life outside of work matters too. We looked on as K’Andre Miller held his baby on the ice following the eastern conference final, with tears streaming down his face. When tragedy struck, we saw a team rally behind Freddie and the willingness of Freddie to remind the world that grief does not stop when we clock-in, and grief does not have to be done in private. These are all moments where, by living your lives openly, we got to witness the beginnings of a shift in hockey culture. This gives me immense hope and because of that hope I have a request to make.
If you get inivite to lease decline your invitation to the white house.
Please continue in the direction of growth by refusing to sit at the table of a man and an administration that is systematically threatening the lives of so many Americans – including ours. By sitting at the table, you are publicly consenting to history being erased, life-saving healthcare being denied, the placement of hardworking citizens into concentration camps, the dehumanization of women as they fight to survive their pregnancies, and the allowance of violence toward individuals, cultures, or ideologies you don’t understand. Who sits at your table in life matters.
It matters because at the Lenny a member from our group was followed and taunted. This matters because there are children who love this sport who have few or no role models. This matters because Pride night had to be re-branded for the comfort of those who would rather threaten than support the LGBTQIA+ community. This matters because our group had to endure protestors at a Durham Bulls game. This matters because at a pride event in North Carolina that our group attended, not even 24 hours before game 6, the organizer was struck in the head with a full-sized American flag by a protestor. It matters because in under 3 months over 300 queer individuals from North Carolina joined an LGBTQIA+ hockey fan group with 800 more following along on social media. Queer folk not only belong in sports but already exist in sports – they just lack the environment in which it is safe to be entirely themselves. We exist and we want to cheer you on with the knowledge that the Carolina Hurricanes aren’t just great hockey players but that they are willing to stand up for the many communities their fans represent.
Whether you’re queer, BIPOC, or any other “other-ed” designation it is no secret that the NHL still has a long way to go. It is socioeconomically and racially gate-kept and can be considered a dangerous place for LGBTQIA+ player and fans. So why don’t we just stop supporting the NHL? The answer is fairly simple – walking away is not a solution. Walking away eliminates the opportunities for conversations and experiences that lead to growth, denies members of our own community their chance to showcase their athleticism and love for the sport, but most importantly it concedes our right to be in that arena and have our joy and voices heard among the masses. I am not asking you to walk away, I am asking you to be willing to choose to sit at a better table. To continue your willingness to bring humanity into hockey. To sit amongst your community- gay, straight, black, white, disabled, or able bodied. To sit at tables designed to lift others up the way you do for others every day you put on a Carolina Hurricanes Jersey.
So, to our Stanley Cup Champions we as that you please continue to show your humanity, by declining your invitation to the white house.
Sincerely,
A Gayniac
At the time of publishing the Hurricanes have not received an invitation to the white house. This letter came to fruition as a way to channel the duality of experience that comes with being a queer hockey fan and watching your favorite team, in a problematic national organization, win the Stanley Cup. In the days after the SCF, sitting beside joy and excitement, was a sense of concern and unease that, the admittedly para-social relationships, developed with the players could be upended with one decision. That angst was ultimately what created this letter- one that if I am lucky would never have needed to be written and if I am not, I hope could inform a decision from those making it. – Sam
