NHL announces partnership to promote inclusiveness

Kevin Allen and Erik Brady, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

The National Hockey League announced a formal partnership Thursday with You Can Play, an advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring equality and respect for all athletes regardless of sexual orientation.

The agreement is the first of its kind in the four major North American male professional team sports, none of which have ever seen an active player come out as gay.

"I have no doubt that we will be first," Philadelphia Flyers scout Patrick Burke told USA TODAY Sports. "Our league is ready for this and our players are ready for this. The culture of the sport, when it comes to LGBT issues, is so far ahead of the other sports that I have no doubt that there will be openly gay athletes in the NHL in the near future."

Burke, the son of longtime NHL executive Brian Burke, is co-founder of the year-old You Can Play, which has already been working with the NHL on public service announcements that deliver a message that players should be judged solely on their abilities, never their sexual orientations.

The NHL and NHL Players Association, which were unable to agree on a collective bargaining agreement that would have started the current season on time, came together to agree to this partnership, which is meant to secure a more inclusive community, devoid of casual homophobic language in locker rooms and on the ice, at all levels of hockey.

"We are welcoming and inclusive and we want to make sure that our sport has the right environment," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told USA TODAY Sports. "And that is a message that resonates from our players, our fans and our teams."

How ready is the NHL for openly gay players?

"If and when it happens," Bettman said, "I believe we will be ready."

The league said its official partnership with You Can Play includes a significant commitment to education and training for teams, players, media and fans, plus the continued production and broadcast of public service announcements.

"I just think this comes down to doing the right thing," NHL Players Executive Director Donald Fehr told USA TODAY Sports. He said the joint agreement simply re-affirms the idea that NHL players should only be evaluated by what they do on the ice. "Other matters aren't relevant for that purpose," Fehr said.

He doesn't take any particular pride in the NHL being first with this kind of formal agreement: "I don't think you should be ranking people in terms of first or second. I'm just pleased that we were able to do it and that we have the support of the players."

Fehr said the resolution expands the commitment to providing an inclusive work environment: "And if there are matters which arise, you can have some education. And if there are some individuals who need assistance you have an organization that is in a position to provide it."

The agreement specifies that You Can Play will conduct seminars at the NHL's rookie symposium on LGBT issues and that the organization will make its resources and personnel available to individual teams as desired.

The league and the players association will also work to integrate You Can Play principles into the NHL's Behavioral Health Program, which would enable players to seek counseling, or ask questions on matters of sexual orientation, on a confidential basis.

Toronto Maple Leafs left wing James van Riemsdyk says he's unsure if a gay player will come out openly during his career. "It hasn't happened yet," he said, "but this kind of partnership could make someone comfortable enough to want to come out. We are on the right path for something like that happening."

Players who have appeared in public service announcements include Rick Nash of the New York Rangers, Scott Hartnell of the Philadelphia Flyers and van Riemsdyk

"We've worked with 60 or 65 players," Burke said. "Working in videos, marching in pride parades, fund raising, speaking for us. Our players are far ahead of other leagues in terms of LGBT acceptance. From my conversations with athletes in the NHL, we estimate it to be 95% would support an openly gay teammate."

You Can Play's web site gives the following insight into the organization's formative growing pains:

"Did we ever doubt we could get one player from each team in the NHL to step up for respect in sports? Maybe, but not for long. In spite of the reality of locker room homophobia, and in spite of mid-season name calling while this project was in play, at heart these are men who care about their teammates. Asked by Brian and Patrick Burke, one by one, the NHL players — captains, Olympians and all-stars among them — stepped in front of cameras" for public service announcements.

Patrick Burke's brother Brendan came out as gay in 2009 when he was manager of the Miami (Ohio) men's hockey team. He died in a car accident in Indiana in 2010. Patrick Burke later wrote a tribute to his brother for the leading gay sports web site OutSports.com, which included the phrase: "If you can play, you can play."

Patrick Burke decided those words neatly encapsulated his broader idea of inclusiveness — that only ability matters. His You Can Play organization was founded on March 4, 2012. Its board includes Brian Burke, former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Patrick Burke believes his father's standing in the NHL helped to advance LGBT causes in the league.

"He is annually ranked as one of the most influential guys in hockey," Patrick Burke said. "He hunts, and chews tobacco, all these stereotypical masculine things. So for people to know that Brian Burke, who vehemently supports fighting in hockey, for him to say that he'd be happy to have a gay player and he was happy to have a gay son, I do think that helps."

The Burke family's involvement with the You Can Play project has special meaning to Bettman because he know Brendan Burke from the days when his father was one of Bettman's vice presidents. Bettman has memories of Brendan as a 4- and 5-year old hanging out with his father: "He was someone I knew when he was a very little boy."

"The strong feelings that Patrick has stem from how much he and his family loved his brother," Bettman said. "They look back on things in his life that could have been different they want to make it better for anybody who is part of the LGBT community who is looking to do things in life and is worried whether or not they will be included and feel welcome."

Does Bettman believe the NHL's first openly gay player will come out soon?

"There is no way to predict," Bettman said. "But I was having a conversation with Patrick. We were talking about his brother and what he said to me, which was most poignant, was: 'I hope the next generation wouldn't have to deal with some of things that my brother had to deal with."