You Can Play Project caps eventful first year with NHL

leekohler2 · Apr 12, 2013

This is awesome!

The You Can Play Project has been around for a little more than a year, but it has already made great strides in the hockey world and sports community at large with its message of tolerance and education on LGBT issues in sports.

You Can Play took its biggest step forward yet Thursday, announcing an official partnership with the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association, the first of its kind between the social activist group and a professional sports league and its players.

Patrick Burke, one of the three founders of You Can Play, is thrilled with the message the partnership sends.

"The NHL and the NHLPA [are]coming together and saying this is something from an ownership side, from a management side, from a player side, that we all believe that players and coaches and management and fans who are LGBT should be welcomed and feel safe and included in our arenas an our communities," Burke told NHL.com.

The National Hockey League Players' Association and the National Hockey League today announced a historic partnership with the You Can Play Project that formalizes and advances their long-standing commitment to make the NHL the most inclusive professional sports league in the world. READ MORE ›

Burke, along with Brian Kitts and Glenn Witman of GForce Sports, founded You Can Play on March 4, 2012. The organization's goal is to ensure equality, respect and safety for all athletes without regard to sexual orientation. You Can Play wants to foster an environment where LGBT athletes (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) feel welcome in the locker room and in the stands among fans.

Burke, a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers and son of longtime NHL general manager Brian Burke, was inspired to start You Can Play following the death of his younger brother, Brendan, who was killed in a car accident in February 2010. Brendan, a student manager for the Miami University Redhawks hockey team, announced he was gay in 2009 and actively worked to eliminate homophobia in hockey.

With the NHL now completely on board -- many players and teams have lent support during the past year through videos and statements -- Burke said he believes this could be the first step in getting other sports leagues to follow suit.
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My team has also shot a video for the project and we hope to have it up soon. I'll let all of you know when that happens.

Just one of the the many reasons I love this game.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=665255

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You Can Play Project caps eventful first year with NHL

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