I heard and read this news today and find it to be a very positive move by professional sports to promote inclusion in one of the most highly visible arenas in our country. I think that the "You Can Play" effort, similar to the "It Gets Better" effort, sends a very positive message to young athletes that , if they are gay, they do not any longer have to hide and deny their true identities. I hope that this movement filters down into the semi-pro leagues and then all the way down to college and high school sports. While I know that this is still an emerging effort, I see many good things to come from it. We should all support it in any way we can.
Warren
>
> Taking a Stand to Change Locker Room Culture
> By JEFF Z. KLEIN and STU HACKEL
>
> 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.
>
> The message will be shown for the first time during the first
> intermission of NBC's Sunday afternoon telecast of the Bruins-Rangers
> game. Thirty-five N.H.L. players, including award winners and
> All-Stars, have committed to take part in the project, Burke said. The
> You Can Play Web site is scheduled to go online Sunday.
>
> Several Major League Baseball teams made similar announcements last
> season, as did N.B.A. players after a series of incidents in which
> fellow N.B.A. players used antigay slurs.
>
>
> 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."
>
> Tommy Wingels of the San Jose Sharks is involved with You Can Play.
>
> "I'm just trying to continue Brendan's dream," said Wingels, who
> played for Miami when Brendan was the team manager. "To have the
> courage to do what he did was pretty remarkable."
>
> Patrick Burke said that the project was a combined effort by gay and
> straight athletes and fans, but that the message was mainly aimed at
> straight audiences.
>
> "It is important for straight athletes at all levels to step up and
> let gay athletes know they will be accepted," he said, "and to let
> other straight athletes know that homophobic language and attitude is
> never appropriate."
>
> No current N.H.L. player has said he is gay, but others beyond the
> Burkes have expressed support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and
> transgender causes.
>
> Last year, the Rangers' Sean Avery lobbied New York State legislators
> to pass a marriage equality bill. In 2010, the Blackhawks' Brent Sopel
> took the Stanley Cup to the Chicago Pride Parade. In a 2006 Sports
> Illustrated survey, almost 80 percent of N.H.L. players said they
> would support a gay teammate.
>
> "Hopefully, in large part due to my brother and what he started, I
> think our league is much more accepting and on board with the whole
> gay-rights issue," Patrick Burke said. "It may be in part because
> we're more international than other leagues, but for whatever reason,
> our guys are great about this."
>
> Last September, the Philadelphia Flyers' Wayne Simmonds was accused of
> directing a homophobic slur at Avery in a preseason game; Simmonds
> denied it and the league had no conclusive evidence. The You Can Play
> project seeks to end such incidents.
>
> "We call it casual homophobia," Patrick Burke said. "It's very rare in
> the N.H.L. where you have someone who is actually homophobic or
> bullying someone, but you have guys using homophobic slurs and slang,
> not trying to mean it in that way. But in general, our players are
> very supportive."
>
> You Can Play's advisory panel has representatives from the N.F.L., the
> N.B.A., Major League Soccer and women's sports, Burke said. The
> project plans to produce a playbook for coaches, players, members of
> the news media and administrators at all age levels to create a
> nonthreatening environment for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
> athletes. But the initiative starts with the N.H.L.
>
> "That's what our family knows best and where our friends are to
> start," Burke said.
>
>
> Gregory Bull/Associated Press
> Buffalo's Ryan Miller, keeping his eye on the puck in a shutout of
> Anaheim, has been on a roll.Unhappy Goalie Delivers
>
> Ryan Miller, awful in goal for most of this season, has turned things
> around — and he may be taking the Buffalo Sabres with him.
>
> Miller was exceptional on Wednesday and Thursday, stopping 43 and 39
> shots in consecutive road shutouts of Anaheim and San Jose. Some
> credited his performances to his anger after the Sabres peddled his
> friend, the rugged forward and face-off specialist Paul Gaustad, to
> Nashville for a No. 1 draft choice before Monday's trade deadline.
>
> "I'm not going to lie; I'm not real happy about the way it all turned
> out, but that's the business of hockey," Miller said Tuesday about the
> departure of his teammate for 10 seasons. "If I had any more
> influence, Paul would still be here. I appreciate the way he plays.
> He's been one of my best friends for a long time."
>
> Miller's back-to-back shutouts lifted the Sabres into hailing distance
> of a playoff spot, but his revival predated the Gaustad trade. The
> Sabres were in last place Jan. 24, and Miller had an .897 save
> percentage. That night, Miller stopped 27 of 28 shots in a 2-1
> shootout win over the Devils. That started a 16-game stretch in which
> Miller registered a .946 save percentage. Not surprisingly, the
> Sabres' record in that time was 10-3-3.
>
> More:
> http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/taking-a-stand-to-change-locker-room-culture/
------------------------------------
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