The Fort Frances Lakers are adding a Pride night to next season’s schedule.
The Superior International Junior Hockey League team team will partner with Borderland Pride to host a Pride-themed night in the 2023-2024 season.
Luke Judson, the general manager of the Fort Frances Lakers, said the process to get something together moved pretty quickly.
“Borderland Pride approached us and just asked if we'd be interested in doing something. We had a board meeting that night,” he said.
“I wasn't at the meeting but essentially, [the non-profit organization’s board of directors] decided that it would be a good thing to do,” he said.
“Being Pride Month, we thought it'd be a good chance to get it out there and have something for people to look forward to. It'll be one of many promotions that we try to do to get the town and the area back behind our team.”
Judson said, to his knowledge, this would be the first Pride night for the Lakers.
Borderland Pride's Douglas Judson, who is also the general manager's brother, said it all happened within the past week.
“We have talked earlier about doing an event like this, but the actions of the NHL in the past couple of weeks is really what caused us to want to move forward and signal to the community that this was an issue that we were taking action on,” he said.
“You've got two local hockey celebrities [from] Thunder Bay, that don't seem to think that LGBT people have a place in hockey. So this isn't just a national and local or international issue, it's a local one.”
Eric and Marc Staal, who played for the Florida Panthers last season, but refused to wear a Pride-themed warmup jersey prior to one of the team's games. They were among a handful of players across the league who took a similar stance.
Judson said it's important that all people in the community, whether they are players or fans or families with young people in sport, that they see there's a place for them in the social fabric of hockey and, and other sports.
“We wanted to send a strong message in a community like this one where hockey is really at the center of so much social activity, community generosity, and volunteerism was something that was available for everyone,” he said.
For Luke Judson, it’s all about supporting the community.
“What the NHL did, maybe they have their reasons, but ultimately that doesn't stop us from supporting the things that are important to us,” he said. “Anyone who's been following us has kind of seen, what we've been doing in the community ever since we got started.”
Judson said the community activities the Lakers have been involved with include raising awareness about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, visiting schools, reading programs, and visiting local First Nation communities.
“We're working on many more things, but it just goes back to supporting the people that support us and the LGBT community is part of that,” he said.
Judson said next season’s league schedule isn’t set yet, so he’s unsure of when the night will happen or even what the event will look like.
“I don't want to say too much right now,” he said, saying more information will be released later.
Douglas Judson said they will look for a variety of ways to incorporate members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community into this event.
“Whether that is through things that happen at intermission or the artwork is used to promote the event or other entertainment or promotions that take place in the lead up to the event,” he said. “The events can take a number of different directions.”
Judson said they’ve seen some organizations do sort of the pride hockey tape approach or adopt the pride jerseys during warm up, with fundraising initiatives attached.
“We're optimistic that we can do other things together over the year ahead to underscore the message that this type of event has for the sporting community,” he said.
“We want to underscore that we're not just trying to rainbow wash a hockey team here for one night.”
He said Borderland Pride has worked together with other local hockey organizations in a similar way in the past.
“So that part isn't new, but we're trying to make sure that whatever we do, there's some substance behind it in addition an opportunity to fly the flag at a game and make this part of a fun evening for the community,” he said.
