Ottawa's gay hockey team is recg | Xtra Magaze

Contents:

• ADVOT SAY HOCKEY PLAYER G OUT AS GAY MT LEAD TO MEANGFUL CHANGE GAME
• GAY HOCKEY PLAYER: NHL HYPOCRIL TO NMN BRENDAN LEIPSIC WHOUT CHANGG CULTURE
• GAY OTTAWA
• AN INCLIVE NHL AWAS S FIRST OPENLY GAY PLAYER
• OTTAWA’S GAY HOCKEY TEAM IS RECG
• OTTAWA GAY SNAS
• 'NHL IS READY FOR GAY PLAYER,' SAYS PATRICK BURKE

ADVOT SAY HOCKEY PLAYER G OUT AS GAY MT LEAD TO MEANGFUL CHANGE GAME

Advot say a young hockey player’s cisn to e out as gay last week, jt as he is on the cp of a possible Natnal Hockey League reer, needs to be a talyst for meangful cultural change the game beyond Pri nights and rabow tape. Based Toronto, McGillis has bee a voice for LGBTQ issu hockey wh the aim of creatg safe spac the sular world of drsg rooms and MORE: Le Prokop, Alberta-born NHL prospect, out as gay Twter statement He has worked on cln wh dividual teams at high levels, but said he has been stymied brgg leaguewi chang.

GAY HOCKEY PLAYER: NHL HYPOCRIL TO NMN BRENDAN LEIPSIC WHOUT CHANGG CULTURE

“You n do all the PR stuff you want, but what are you dog to make that drsg room more of a safe space stead of a space that is filled wh homophobic language and where people don’t feel fortable? A fenceman, he was picked 73rd overall by the NHL’s Nashville Predators last year, will go to mp this fall and uld bee the first openly gay player the NHL. Las Vegas Rairs fensive leman Carl Nassib me out last month as the first openly gay player the Natnal Football MORE: Las Vegas Rairs’ Carl Nassib out as NFL’s first openly gay active player Kristopher Wells, an advote and rearcher, says ’s cril to have LGBTQ role mols sport.

”Wells said te change starts wh a supportive group the locker room or a pta tellg a teammate that homophobic slurs won’t be tolerated.

Cheryl MacDonald is a sports soclogist who has rearched and wrten extensively on homophobia hockey.

GAY OTTAWA

“Le’s story is evince that is beg safer to be an openly gay man men’s petive profsnal hockey, but sce he’s the only one right now, that shows we have work to do, ” said MacDonald wh Sat Mary’s Universy Halifax. “Until we change this ia that you n’t jt be yourself and be taken where you’re at, ’s gog to be practilly impossible to be a gay man this game.

But to Brock McGillis, the first openly gay male profsnal hockey player North Ameri, merely ncelg Leipsic is futile. “Every player I’ve been around has ed this type of language: racist, sexist or homophobic language, ” McGillis told Outsports. Last month, McGillis spoke wh Outsports about the importance of llg out hate-speech hockey, explag why he chose to highlight two-time Stanley Cup champn Dt Penner’s vile nspiracy-filled homophobic Twter timele.

As the first openly gay pro hockey player, McGillis has plenty of first-hand experienc wh the evils of bigotry. Former NHL biser Brandon Pst recently went on a Twter tira about “reverse racism” and star Bs forward David Pastrnak was ught g “you’re gay” as an sult on his Twch stream, though he did tch himself and apologize.

AN INCLIVE NHL AWAS S FIRST OPENLY GAY PLAYER

"I'm not surprised, " Brock McGillis, an LGBTQIA2S+ advote and the first openly gay men's profsnal hockey player, told CTV News Channel on Thursday. The Toronto Gay Hockey Associatn, otherwise known as the "TGHA, " is a non-ntact ice hockey league for gay, lbian, bisexual, trans, queer, and heterosexual people over neteen.

Wh an imprsive 14 teams and more than 210 playg members, the TGHA is one of the largt gay hockey leagu the world! Gay Ottawa Dance ClubsYou'll fd only one major gay dance club A Travel Gay Approved HotelLotnCheck InCheck OutGutsSearchAbout OttawaHomosexual activyLegalMay 14, 1969Same-sex marriageLegalJuly 20, 2005LGBT discrimatnIllegalJanuary 1, 2017Equal age of nsentEqualJune 21, 2019Learn MoreTrendg Hotels OttawaFairmont Chate LrierSwiss Hotel OttawaFeatured VenuT's Pub★★★★★★★★★★T's Pub is the most recent addn to Ottawa's ga... Not one player the league’s 103-year existence has ever e out publicly as gay – not even retirement.

I have heard the explanatns, rangg om the ludicro (there are no “gays” the league) to the simplistic (the game’s hateful, toxic male culture driv gay players unrground). I believe, however, that won’t be long before the NHL has openly gay players lacg up their skat and others workg the ranks of management and hockey operatns. NHL missner Gary Bettman regnized this 2016 when he spoke about the league’s partnership wh the You Can Play anizatn, workg to dismantle barriers met by gay athlet sport.

OTTAWA’S GAY HOCKEY TEAM IS RECG

But I thk ’s our job to create a culture and an environment where a gay player knows he is safe and wele. If and when that happens, believe me, that person will have the full support of the missner’s office” (om “Gary Bettman says NHL is ready for s first openly gay player, ” The Chigo Tribune, 29/06/2016) Commissner Gary Bettman (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)Today, hockey mt reflect the changg valu of s fan base.

Fans of the future will not accept homophobia the sports and entertament products they Are No Gay Players the NHL.., there are now and always have been gay players the NHL.

Nohels, acrdg to a 2017 Gallup study based on 340, 000 terviews, the percentage of Amerin adults intifyg as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr 2017 was 4. Takg to acunt the multatnal makp of the NHL, let’s assume gay men make up half that number or 2. If the assumptns hold then, wh roughly 700 players the NHL, we n reasonably expect at least 15 gay players the league any given year.

OTTAWA GAY SNAS

That means that, over the years, there have probably been several hundred gay NHLers, all of whom prumably kept their sexual orientatn hidn om the still sist that, notwhstandg the odds, there are simply no gay men playg the NHL. Mark Tewksbury, an Olympic gold medalist swimmg at the 1992 Olympic gam, a former chef missn of Canada’s 2012 Summer Olympic team and a proment gay activist sports for many years, sffs at that ia. Canadian Olympian Mark Tewksbury on Gay Players the NHLAsked a Canadian Broadstg Corporatn terview why there are no gay players the NHL, he uld barely nta a lgh.

'NHL IS READY FOR GAY PLAYER,' SAYS PATRICK BURKE

Rollg his ey, he explaed, “There’s no gay hockey players bee there haven’t been any the NHL who’ve ever e out, not even retirement. What’s more, no public figure should have to face the expectatn of beg the poster child for gay rights if they don’t want to be. If ed there are no gay players the NHL, that would set the league apart om the other “Big Four” profsnal sports leagu North Ameri.

One of whom was Glenn Burke, who me out while he was playg for the Oakland Athletics back 1977, and who said, “They n’t ever say now that a gay man n’t play the majors, bee I’m a gay man and I ma . ” The Natnal Basketball Associatn has had two players who me out as gay, one durg his fal year the league. Speakg of the absence of openly gay players the NHL, Tampa Bay Lightng goaltenr Anrs Nilsson, a proment supporter of the LGBT+ muny, said, “When people say there are three to four gay players on each [NHL] team, I say no, absolutely not.

” He further explaed that if he had been gay, playg as a teen, he would have qu bee of the homophobic slurs on the ice, the drsg rooms and the stands – all over the hockey Nilsson as an Ottawa Senator (Js Starr/The Hockey Wrers)So, what’s up wh the NHL? While there may be very few gay players the league or perhaps none at any given moment, ’s clear that over the s, there mt have been many skatg Hockey Culture to Blame? One of them is Brock McGillis, now an LGBTQ+ activist who played profsnal hockey the mor leagu and was one of the first pros to e out publicly as gay.