Hi!! I'm new at Flyers can you pls explain the Laughton gay ally heir post? Like what did he do and why are the trades bad for that?
hi hello welcome!! i love any chance to talk about my sweet prince and dead wife scotty laughty <3 so thank you for this question
scott laughton was (weep) a beloved leader for the flyers, one of our alternate captains. all rumors point to: he's just a really good dude! from what flyers beat reporter charlie o'connor says, he's part of why the flyers locker room is so chill and welcoming.
while scotty laughty was with the flyers, he was the ambassador for both You Can Play Too and Hockey Is For Everyone, and he and james van riemsdyk set up an initiative to get more queer people into hockey, by literally giving out tickets for home games to local queer groups, plus signed gear and sticks, and inviting local groups specifically to flyers pride night to see the game and then meet them afterward. <- that link has info about it and also an interview with laughts talking about it. he also talks about trying to get people to watch their language in the locker room and be aware of how they're contributing the culture around them.
and then jvr left in free agency, so laughts was (i think?) the only official Ally. but in 2025 he asked joel farabee to help him host the gays on pride night and bee did and it was very cute! ESPECIALLY bc scott wasn't able to be there for some reason, so bee had to do it all by himself, and he seemed like he wasn't sure what he was doing but his heart was in the right place and it was just really sweet.
and then. and THEN. like a week after bee's first time hosting pride night, he and morgan frost (frostbee) got traded to calgary. rip my beautiful sweet dumb as rocks boys i loved you so much
and then right after that (maybe a month? i forget) scotty laughty got traded to the leafs which was devastating for many reason bc he was deeply beloved AND we'd just lost frostbee. but also he and his Gay Ally Heir Apparent had both been traded out in the span of 2 months and there wasn't really anyone left who had those connections to the queer community in philly, or, i guess, the desire to rekindle them. i think if laughts had another season to choose someone else on the team to take on that role, it might have kept going, but it all just happened so fast that there wasn't time to set that up.
for the 25-26 season, the flyers didn't have a representative from the team host anyone for pride night. which is not to say that everyone on the team is homophobic or doesn't care! it's just that scott laughton and jvr were unusual in the level of effort they put in, and without laughts (and his hand-picked heir joel farabee) there to spearhead it, it's probably going to fall by the wayside.
the flyers still have pride night, and they still give out tickets to local lgbtq+ groups. but it's not the same as having an actual player say "hey, please come to the game, we'd love to meet you afterwards and welcome you, and here are tickets for non-pride night games, too. you are welcome here all season, not just this one night."
anyway. scotty laughty is special in my heart for many reasons, and that is one of them. i miss him all the time. and i hope a new Gay Ally will rise up from the ashes to take over the mantle... but we'll just have to see.
