Seattle Kraken trainer Justin Rogers comes out as gay

The NHL hasn’t gotten off to a promising start in terms of promoting inclusivity during the 2023-24 season, having banned themed jersey nights and nixing colored tape only to rescind the ruling after backlash. But that doesn’t mean inspiring breakthroughs can’t still happen around the league.

On Friday, in a story from ESPN’s Ryan S. Clark, Seattle Kraken trainer Justin Rogers came out as gay. He is believed to be the first openly gay support staff member on an NHL bench. Rogers was hired by the Kraken in July 2021, months before the franchise commenced its inaugural NHL season. He first came out to his family in 2014, then his two closest friends roughly nine months later, Clarke reports. Eight years after that, while employed by the Kraken, Rogers came out to GM Ron Francis.

“I don’t think it matters how many times you come out to somebody, there’s always a level of nerves,” Rogers told ESPN. “You don’t know how someone is going to react. Ron is the most stand-up, phenomenal person in the world. Ron loves everyone within his community. I had zero doubt he was going to have my back and that it would matter with him.”

“I think people understand there’s a lot that we need to learn,” Francis told ESPN. “You’re going to have some really tough conversations. It’s not always going to be easy. You might get to the point when you’re at an impasse or you don’t understand certain things, but I think you still have to work through that. It’s what we’ve tried to do as an organization, which is try to have these conversations.”

While the NHL has banned themed jerseys during practices, warmups and games as part of the fallout that began with Ivan Provorov refusing to wear a Pride jersey last winter, the Kraken have indicated they still intend to move forward with a Pride Night this season and will create Pride jerseys to be auctioned off to raise money for charity, ESPN reports.