Joe posted this great video earlier today:
Hockey is joining the drive to end homophobia in sports with a public-service message featuring eight N.H.L. players, including Henrik Lundqvist of the Rangers, Corey Perry of the Anaheim Ducks and Daniel Alfredsson of the Ottawa Senators.
You Can Play, the campaign the players will introduce, is another in a series of efforts by hockey’s Burke family to open doors for gay athletes to participate in sports. It is intended to “make locker rooms safe for all athletes, rather than places of fear, slurs and bullying,” said Patrick Burke, a scout with the Philadelphia Flyers and a founder of the project.
[…]
Burke’s younger brother, Brendan, acknowledged he was gay while serving as the manager of the Miami (Ohio) University hockey team. Their father, Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke, marched in Toronto’s gay pride parade with Brendan, and again after Brendan died in a 2010 car accident.
“The hockey community rallied behind Brendan because he loved the game,” Patrick Burke said. “The N.H.L. players stepping forward to support You Can Play know that creating a homophobia-free environment will make their teams, and the sport, better.”
So great.
