When the
New York Knicks held their Pride Night, there was celebration... and a bunch of
trolls made fools of themselves
The Knicks and the LGBTQ community
pushed through nonsense from homophobes.
The New York
Knicks held their latest annual LGBTQ Pride Night on Tuesday, thrilling many
fans and upsetting some anti-gay trolls looking to stomp their feet about the
progress of inclusion in sports.
The Knicks’
Pride Night at Madison Square Garden — one of the meccas of basketball —
featured a celebration of the LGBTQ community.
One of the
voices honored at the Knicks Pride Night was Lynn Schulman, a longtime stalwart
of the LGBTQ community in New York City and the New York City Council member
from the 29th District, representing parts of Queens.
“As a member
of the NYC Council LGBTQ+ Caucus, it was a thrill to participate in Pride Night
hosted by the New York Knicks,” Schulman said. “At a time when the LGBTQ
community is often under attack, it is heartwarming to see a prominent sports
team like the Knicks be so supportive.”
PFLAG NYC Executive Director Melissa D’Andrea
Sullivan, the January recipient of the Knicks’ Sweetwater Clifton City Spirit
Award, was also honored on-court with a $10,000 check.
“I would
like to be remembered as a person who helped foster ‘brave spaces’ and tried to
leave each person and place I encounter in my life better than I found them,”
Sullivan said in a statement.
The Knicks
didn’t shy away from talking publicly about the event, sharing on X
The club
also took to Instagram stories to talk about PFLAG, the honorees and Pride
Night.
None of this
stopped some misguided people from sharing their unfortunate views of sports,
pro sports, the NBA, sporting events, sports fandom, the LGBTQ community, gay
people and Pride.
“NBA teams
having ‘Pride’ night is ridiculous,” said Texas-based syndicated radio host Joe
‘Pags’ Pagliarulo. “How did our society become a place where things completely
disconnected from sexual orientation or sexual activity now pushes is and
celebrates it?”
When
challenged, Pagliarulo made the absolutely ridiculous, completely false claim
that “there’s never been anyone “unwelcomed” because of [sexual orientation] in
sports.”
Another
person on X — and we only highlight people with at least hundreds of followers
— claimed the Knicks were taking sex “out of bedrooms” and putting it on a
basketball court:
Another
person made the false claim that, despite cheerleaders, promotions, Kiss Cams,
contests, music, halftime acts and everything else that goes into producing an
NBA game, “When people pay money to go see a game they just want to see the
GAME”:
Will
Pagliarulo and the rest of the anti-Pride-Night brigade be whining about other
upcoming Knicks promotional nights, like “Essential Workers Night” on Jan. 30?
How about “Women’s Empowerment Night” on March 8? I’m sure he’ll be hosting a
protest on Eighth Avenue for “Kid’s Day” on March 23.
HBCU Night
on on March 25? Celebrating Knicks legend Willis Reed? “Why aren’t they just
sticking to the game?!?!!?”
Maybe one of
them will start a Change.org petition to remove cheerleaders from all sporting
events, given he just wants to “watch the game.”
Or rather,
they’ll do none of that.
People like
Pagliarulo, Clay Travis, Ben Shapiro and others really don’t care about sports
teams celebrating communities or veering away from “the game” during a
commercial break. They have a problem when the community being celebrated is
gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans.
Thankfully,
with the support of the NBA — and beyond that, MLS, NHL, MLB, NFL, WNBA, PWHL
and others — Pride Nights in sports aren’t going anywhere.
They also
realize that LGBTQ people — and particularly gay men — have felt unwelcome in
sports locker rooms for decades. They want to change that.
It’s the
love, the friendship, the camaraderie and the community the Knicks celebrated
at Pride Night, and it’s what every pro-sports team celebrates when they share
some rainbow flags and honor a lesbian who teaches math to kids.
The Knicks
held their first Pride Night in 2018. They have previously participated in the
New York City Pride March.
Despite some
people trying to scare them and other NBA teams away from it, they’ll host
another in 2025.