While history waits for the first openly gay athlete to come out while playing in one of the four major professional sports leagues, it is this year’s hockey season that may eventually be seen as the one that set the stage for such social change.
Hockey and gay rights may seem an odd coupling. But with the You Can Play project advocating for “equality, respect and safety for all athletes, without regard to sexual orientation,” momentum continues for increased acceptance and support of openly gay athletes. You Can Play’s goal is simple: compile videos of athletes saying that if you can play, it doesn’t matter if you’re gay.
The project’s first public service announcement aired in March during a nationally televised game between the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers. Several more videos have been filmed, including a Captain’s Challenge with Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, spots featuring the entire athletic department of Northeastern University, and another by the men’s hockey team at UConn.
“Athletes aren’t as homophobic as people think,” You Can Play founder Patrick Burke told Outsports.com. “Athletes are ready for and would support a gay teammate.”
For Burke, a scout with the Philadelphia Flyers, the issue is personal. His brother Brendan, who passed away in a car crash in 2010, was an openly gay hockey manager for the Miami (Ohio) University men’s hockey team. Patrick felt that he had to do something special to honor his brother’s memory.
“My brother Brendan taught me what the locker room can be like for young LGBT athletes, then showed me the difference one person can make by standing up for what is right,” Patrick states on the You Can Play website (youcanplayproject.org).
Burke rejects the stereotypes that “gay men can’t play sports, and professional athletes are close-minded meathead jocks,” Cyd Zeigler Jr. writes for Outsports.com.
While You Can Play has focused on garnering support within the world of hockey, Burke is eager to include allies from other sports. Reflecting that ambition, the project’s advisory board includes a cross-section of players and front office personnel, including Jessica Gelman, marketing executive for New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft’s Sports Group, Rick Welts, the openly gay president of the Golden State Warriors, and Patrick (and Brendan’s) father Brian Burke, general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Together they appear poised to bring the message of gay acceptance to many corners of the sports world.
“It’s time to change the way the world thinks about athletes both gay and straight,” states Burke. “It’s time for straight allies to show their character by enabling LGBT athletes to show their talents without fear. If you can play, You Can Play.”
