Florida Panthers' Eric And Marc Staal Chose Night To Participate In Team's Pride Night A Day After Miami Heat Hold Same Event With No Issues

The Florida Panthers players Eric and Marc Staal cited religious beliefs for their decision

The Miami Heat held their Gay Pride Night at Miami-Dade Arena Wednesday with no public resistance from anyone in the organization or the New York Knicks. 

The Florida Panthers couldn't say the same when they held their event to honor the LGBTQ community Thursday night. Panthers Eric and Marc Staal chose not to participate by refusing to wear the Pride-themed warmup jerseys for their game against the Toronto Raptors. They cited religious beliefs for their decision in a statement released before the game. 

 “After many thoughts, prayers and discussions we have chosen not to wear a pride jersey tonight. We carry no judgement on how people choose to live their lives, and believe that all people should be welcome in all aspects of the game of hockey. Having said that, we feel that by us wearing a pride jersey it goes against our Christian beliefs. We hope you can respect this statement, we will not be speaking any further on this matter and would like to continue to focus on the game and helping the Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup.

It should be noted while both the Heat and Panthers held similar events, Heat players were not asked to wear Pride jerseys during warmups. 

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