Ilya Lyubushkin on Monday cited an anti-gay Kremlin law and fears of retribution at home in Russia for electing not to participate in the Buffalo Sabres’ pregame warm-up on the team’s “Pride Night,” when players wore jerseys with the team’s rainbow-colored logo in support of the LGBTQ+ community.
The team announced Lyubushkin’s decision before Buffalo’s game against the Montreal Canadiens. Lyubushkin is from Moscow, where he has family and visits regularly in the offseason.
The 28-year-old defenseman was Buffalo’s only healthy player not participating in the warm-ups, before playing in the game. The remaining players took the ice wearing dark blue jerseys with the Sabres logo on the front encircled by a rainbow-colored outline, the same design the team used for its social media avatar throughout the day.
Photo: AFP
A handful of players wrapped their sticks in “Pride tape,” and the Sabres warmed up with commemorative pucks, featuring the date and the teams’ logos in rainbow colors. As in the Sabres’ previous two Pride Nights, the Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus sang the US and Canadian national anthems.
“We continue to advocate for underrepresented groups in hockey and hope that our Pride Night, like many across the league, sparks meaningful conversation and encourages support for the LGBTQIA+ community,” the team said in a statement.
Without mentioning Lyubushkin specifically, the Sabres added: “We are aware of general threats to certain players, and understand their decision to forgo risk.”
Sabres captain Kyle Okposo, whose father is from Nigeria and faced discrimination upon immigrating to Minnesota, defended his teammate, while citing the importance of celebrating 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 added that he is sensitive to Russian players’ concerns, because “we’re frankly not capable of understanding, because we haven’t been there.”
The New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks have also opted not to have players wear Pride jerseys.
The Blackhawks, like Lyubushkin, cited a law passed last year in Russia that expanded the restrictions on supporting LGBTQ+ rights in the country as their reasoning.
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