“But no player has shown the ... courage to come out, and though you can’t blame them for avoiding the ridicule they’d be subjecting themselves to, it’s a real shame nonetheless. I’m sure there are some gay young men playing the game who could use an idol to emulate – and from a business perspective, a gay-friendly NHL could bring in a new, sizeable group of customers to help build league revenues.”

What kind of left-coast horse manure is this? 
I would tell this writer to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine, but I am afraid that is what he wants!

Posted by w2j2 from Alpena, Michigan on 02/08/07 at 04:29 PM ET

I just want to take this moment to come out and state that I am heterosexual, and married.

Why would anybody interested in Hockey care about the sexual orientation of a player? By “coming-out” the player basically says “I care that you know what I do in my personal life”.

For the most part, homosexual people are immature about their situation and make it a focus, but then don’t want it to be a focus.

Gossip is for Hollywood tabloids… not The Hockey News. Why not just have all the players just publicly annouce their sexual orientation at the same time. That way, nobody will feel embarrassed or alone.

Posted by Itlan on 02/08/07 at 04:34 PM ET

Must’ve been a slow day at THN. Adam Proteau is one of their better writers but this story is beneath him.

Who gives a fat flying fig if there are or aren’t gays in the NHL? What purpose would it serve if anyone came out?

Very disappointing to read something like this in this day and age in a respected publication like THN.

Posted by Spector from Charlottetown, PEI, Canada on 02/08/07 at 04:40 PM ET

Agreed, Lyle. 

The NHL’s the ultimate “good old boys’ club,” even in 2007, so a player would have a hard road if he were to come out, but the bottom line is simple: ethnicity, religion, and sexual preference have no impact upon what a player does on the ice or how good a teammate that player is off the ice. 

There is no responsibility whatsoever for a player to discuss any aspect of his personal life.  It’s up to the player’s discretion.

If a player does come out, his sexual preference will not affect how well he shoots, passes, skates, checks, or leads, and if it affects how his teammates, coaches, or NHL GM’s treat him, shame on them.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 02/08/07 at 07:58 PM ET

Exactly, George. To me, a player’s sexual preference is nobody’s business but their own, and as long as they’re not doing something illegal or harmful to others, what they do with consenting adults doesn’t need to be splashed all over the media.

It’s not a question of gay players staying closeted, but rather the fact that it’s their personal, private life. I’m sure any gay player wouldn’t like to come out simply because he/she would forever carry the label of “gay hockey player” after their name, singling them out for attention they never sought.

Again, that was a disappointing article by one of hockey’s better writers.

Posted by Spector from Charlottetown, PEI, Canada on 02/08/07 at 08:09 PM ET

I must say that I’m really disappointed by the responses to this article and the thinly veiled discrimination present in them.  Itlan: to generalize a whole group of people as any characteristic is the definition of stereotyping, and, for the record, most people don’t want to be seen as different, just not ashamed to be themselves.  Homosexuality is the last form of institutionalized, government sponsored discrimination.  Think back to the Civil Rights movement in the United States and how many white people said about black folks “they’re always pushing their skin color in my face!  Why do they have to make it such a big deal?” Ignoring people’s differences and refusing to talk about them is white privilege, since it’s part of our culture to never discuss race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, etc., since no one ever differs from us in our lives.  And if you find the need to say “but I have friends that are gay” spare the comedy, that one is as old as “some of my best friends are black.” This is not a crusade of mine and I don’t have any vested interest in the topic, but I am an avid hockey fan and hate to see my fellow hockey nuts engage in such exclusionary thinking under the guise of “what’s best for the team.” I hope that my response doesn’t feel like an attack, because it’s meant as an invitation for discussion.

Posted by CounterPoint from USA on 02/09/07 at 02:15 AM ET

“Counterpoint,” y’know, I’m trying to be diplomatic because I understand that people have different views about homosexuality, so I don’t want to step on any toes, but at the same time, let’s be honest here.

It doesn’t matter if a guy’s got three legs, four eyes, and is from planet Xandor.  Whether there’s guy on my team who’s a different race, ethnicity, has a different religion, or if he’s gay, my cocnerns are whether he’s a good player, and more than anything, whether he’s a “good guy"--you judge a person on the content of their character, and which gender that person is attracted to shouldn’t enter into the equation.

But I’m not gonna lie, either.  The friend who introduced me to hockey was Korean, but the first time I played hockey with a black guy, I thought, “Huh, this is different.” As it turned out, he was the nicest guy on the rink, he happened to be a doctor, and he also had a snap shot that beat me like a rented mule when he scored a hat trick on me, so after the game, I did the Wayne’s World “I’m not worthy” bow because he schooled me.  His race mattered as much as me being left-handed--not at all--but it did catch me off-guard.

People are human.  We all cringe a little bit when we meet someone unfamiliar, we all have biases (I dislike Maple Leaf fans, for example), and a guy who’s not only playing in a professional sport, but is also playing hockey, where Russian players are still called “commies,” and French players are still called “frogs,” a gay player would face a tremendously steep uphill climb, and he may face some very overt discrimination from his teammates, coaches, and even GM’s and the league. 

I don’t think that it’s fair to suggest that until a gay player comes out of the closet with the expressly stated purposes of encountering and defying those stereotypes, we’re all perpetuating the concept that you call “white privilege,” and I call “discriminating based on ‘isms.’” I don’t want to see a player have to go through the crap that shouldn’t be acceptable in the first place, but is accepted anyway.  If that player chooses to keep his personal life private, I respect that.

I have gay friends who make sure everybody knows that they’re gay, and I have gay friends who are just as comfortable in their own skin, but don’t feel it’s necessary to cross that bridge unless they’re specifically asked.  Sexuality is something people discriminate upon, but it’s like religion to some extent--it’s a social taboo which one makes the discretionary choice to disclose or not disclose. 

Does a Republican declare himself as such in a room full of people who’re bashing those who hold conservative beliefs?  Does someone who has a chronic physical or mental illness declare their status in a job situation where they know that such an issue might get them fired? 

I’d like to think that we all want to live in a world where none of that matters, but it still does.  None of those differences or taboos should have anything to do with a person’s worth, and they just don’t determine a hockey player’s worth as a teammate and player.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 02/09/07 at 03:21 AM ET

Georgeums: You said: “I don’t think that it’s fair to suggest that until a gay player comes out of the closet with the expressly stated purposes of encountering and defying those stereotypes, we’re all perpetuating the concept that you call “white privilege,” and I call “discriminating based on ‘isms.’”

The point about white (or any other) privilege is this: By not acknowledging the things that make us different, we are saying that the things that make us different don’t matter.  But, they do.  And by not talking about them, or discouraging talking by saying “it shouldn’t matter what sort of person you are just as long as you’re a good teammate” is ignoring the fact that people are discriminated against because of their differences.  I don’t disagree with anything else that you posted.  Why shouldn’t we be talking about race or sexual orientation in hockey?  Why is this “disappointing,” Lyle?  What can it hurt to talk about it?  Can it really be that no one playing hockey is gay or lesbian?  Should Jarome Iginla or Kevin Weekes stop talking about how their differences affected them?  We would never say the same things about race, why do we get to do it with sexual orientation?  Again, I have no vested interest in this topic, except that we as a community are willing to consider that humans vary widely in all aspects of life, hockey players, too.

Posted by CounterPoint from USA on 02/09/07 at 06:31 AM ET

Counterpoint: I have no problem talking about it. What I have a problem with is turning this into an issue that really doesn’t need to be one. I’m in agreement with George on this, as I really don’t give a rat’s hindquarters if a player is straight or gay, or the colour of their skin or their nationality. I’m more interested in their on-ice performance and the quality of their character.

Do you think Jarome Iginla wants to carry the label of “black hockey superstar” around with him? No, because he never makes the colour of his skin an issue. Nor does any other black player in the NHL.  We don’t think of Scott Gomez as “the Mexican-American hockey star”, but merely as “Gomer”, the star of the New Jersey Devils, who’s one of the slickest playmakers in the game.

Ever notice that, during the upheavel in Canada over Quebec’s referendums on separation from the country, that Quebec-born players never made an issue over it, or never stepped forward and said, “I’m for Quebec as its own nation”? I’m sure there probably were some Quebec-born players who may have been for it, but it was their own views and they didn’t want to voice them, not out of fear, but rather because they didn’t want to carry around the label of “separatist”. For them, it wasn’t an issue and a label they didn’t seek to carry.

If there are gay players in the NHL, good for them. If any wish to come out, fine, I have no problem with that either. Then it’s an issue worth talking about because that player has brought it to the fore and will carry the label of “gay NHL hockey player”. I just didn’t see any reason for this article because, quite frankly, it’s a non-issue.

Posted by Spector from Charlottetown, PEI, Canada on 02/09/07 at 06:56 AM ET

I read most of the comments and while I am empathetic with them I think the important issue is the fact that our sacred cow Hockey has gay players and because we do not want to accept this fact they feel the need to stay in the closet and maintain the status quo. Wake up and smell the coffee people, gay men are not all dancers and hairdressers and other stereo types. There have been numerous powerful and masculine men who were born gay or bi sextual who have served in the military and have been successful professional hockey, basketball and believe it or not football players. Our society has to progress to the point where gay or bisexual men are not second class citizens anywhere, in work or play or out on the town.
The traditional hyprocritical religions are on the defensive and are losing influence and credibitity because male to male sex is as old as the hills and should be accepted by all. After all it has been exposed on more than one occasion in the Catholic and Evangelical leadership ranks.
Need I say more?

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely Yours,
Chris

Posted by Chris from Vancouver, BC on 04/28/07 at 12:20 AM ET