Hockey player coming out as gay must lead to meaningful change in game: advocates
Advocates say a young hockey player's decision to come out as gay this past week, just as he is on the cusp of a possible National Hockey League career, needs to be a catalyst for meaningful cultural change in the game beyond Pride nights and rainbow tape.
“It is a phenomenal thing, but it's not because the (hockey) culture made it safe,” said Brock McGillis, a former goalie who played professionally in North America and Europe.
“For every Luke Prokop there are a thousand (LGBTQ) kids quitting hockey.”
McGillis, who came out five years ago after his career ended, spoke extensively to Prokop before the 19-year-old made his announcement. Based in Toronto, McGillis has become a voice for LGBTQ issues in hockey with the aim of creating safe spaces in the insular world of dressing rooms and rinks.
He has worked on inclusion with individual teams at high levels, but said he has been stymied in bringing in leaguewide changes.
A patchwork approach won't work, he said.
“You can do all the PR stuff you want … but what are you doing to make that dressing room more of a safe space instead of a space that is filled with homophobic language and where people don't feel comfortable? How are you humanizing these issues and how are you shifting your culture?”
Prokop, from Edmonton, has been playing junior hockey for the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League. A defenceman, he was picked 73 overall by the NHL's Nashville Predators last year, will go to camp this fall and could become the first openly gay player in the NHL.
“We pledge to do everything possible to ensure that Luke's experience is a welcoming and affirmative one,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement.
Las Vegas Raiders defensive lineman Carl Nassib came out last month as the first openly gay player in the National Football League.
Kristopher Wells, an advocate and researcher, says it's critical to have LGBTQ role models in sport.
“People listen to their heroes,” said Wells, an associate professor and research chair for public understanding of sexual and gender minority youth at MacEwan University in Edmonton.
“When young people see their role models stand up, they want to emulate that behaviour and be a part of those new social norms that are forming.”
Wells said true change starts with a supportive group in the locker room or a captain telling a teammate that homophobic slurs won't be tolerated.
That way, he said, those who decide to come out won't have to swap one set of anxieties for another.
“Why Luke's decision is seen as being so courageous is not just because he's the first, but (because) all LGBTQ people know the moment you become visible (when) you come out, you're more likely to be victimized. You become a target. And that's not easy to deal with.”
Cheryl MacDonald is a sports sociologist who has researched and written extensively on homophobia in hockey. She said Prokop's high skill levels will serve to insulate him somewhat, but he'll still have to navigate the bias of some decision-makers who laud inclusivity in public, but act differently in private.
“Luke's story is evidence that it is becoming safer to be an openly gay man in men's competitive professional hockey, but since he's the only one right now, that shows we have work to do,” said MacDonald with Saint Mary's University in Halifax.
“My research has shown that if you can perform on the ice, what you do in your spare time matters less. (But) at very top levels of the game, it is difficult to be different.”
And that doesn't just apply to being gay, she added.
“If you are concussed or injured, if you are dealing with drug and alcohol addiction problems, if you have mental-health problems, if you don't fit in somehow, chances are there is someone that has your skill set and less perceived baggage that will take your job. It's easier just to stay quiet.
“Until we change this idea that you can't just be yourself and be taken where you're at, it's going to be practically impossible to be a gay man in this game.”
McGillis said the potential is there.
“I think hockey people are really good people. I just don't think they realize there's a problem,” he said.
“(They) will rally. We just need to show them this is something to rally around.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 25, 2021
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
Stormy Daniels took the witness stand Tuesday at Donald Trump's hush money trial, describing for jurors a sexual encounter the porn actor says she had with him in 2006 that resulted in her being paid off to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
CFL suspends Argos QB Chad Kelly at least nine games following investigation
The CFL suspended Toronto Argonauts quarterback Chad Kelly for at least nine regular-season games Tuesday following its investigation into a lawsuit filed by a former strength-and-conditioning coach against both the player and club.