A little more than nine years ago, conservative commentator Erick Erickson wrote a piece entitled "You will be made to care." The essence of his essay was to address the culture having shifted to the majority of Americans approving of gay marriage. Even a good number of social conservatives, while disagreeing that such a union is indeed "marriage," acquiesced by saying "whatevs." As long as they don't force their views upon us, we'll do the courtesy of not doing the same. The problem is, the secular left isn't willing to play that game. It's no longer good enough to say "live and let live." Secular progs believe they're firmly entrenched in the moral high ground, so anything less than full acquiescence is unacceptable. No more hiding behind your deeply held religious beliefs, they say.
Fast forward to earlier this week when an NHL player chose to stand on principle.
Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov did not participate in the team's LGBTQ+ Pride Night festivities Tuesday night — which included wearing a rainbow-themed warmup jersey prior to the Flyers' game against the Anaheim Ducks.
The 26-year-old Provorov, who says he is Russian Orthodox, explained that he chose not to participate because of his religious beliefs.
"I respect everybody's choices," he told reporters after the game at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, which the Flyers won 5-2. "My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion."
Flyers coach John Tortorella did not bench Provorov, and came to his defense, saying Provorov is "being true to himself and to his religion."
"This has to do with his belief and his religion," Tortorella said in his postgame comments. "It's one thing I respect about Provy: He's always true to himself. That's where we're at with that."
Good on coach Tortorella for backing his guy despite anticipating an intense backlash.
Whenever sports and social issues intersect, it's give the sports media (the vast majority of whom lean left) an opportunity to sit at the adult table. Problem is, they come off as vacuous hacks.
NHL analyst says on the NHL Network! that if Philly Flyers Provorov doesn’t want to wear a pro-LBGTQ uniform he should leave America, go back to Russia, and fight in the war against Ukraine. The tolerant left! Holy shit: pic.twitter.com/wWLFBy2stC
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 19, 2023
A chubby Canadian journalist is sobbing on air and pounding the table, demanding the Flyers be fined bc Provorov wouldn’t wear a Pride jersey
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) January 18, 2023
Also attacks religious believers and says they all have ugly livespic.twitter.com/GFfCYQsRYb
But Provorov obviously does not respect “everyone”. If he did respect everyone, he would have taken part in warm-up and worn the Pride Night jersey. Don’t hide behind religion. https://t.co/Qk6dTgAnmP
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) January 18, 2023
Of course, Ivan Provorov is more than happy to play pregame dress-up when it does align with his belief system. pic.twitter.com/rOG0uoCsf4
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) January 18, 2023
In the end, Provorov gave everyone a blueprint on how to beat back the "wokes." That is, calmly and unapologetically state your beliefs and then don't address the situation again. Sure, the wokes will display their impotent rage for a few days, but then they'll move on to the next great affront.
Leave it to a Russian born citizen to provide Americans the template for defending free expression.
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