Hockey + Gay Pride: A Not-So-Odd Couple

I don't know much about The Hockey....something to do with ice and pucks....Shakespeare on ice? I dunno.

But I do know that the bling from the Stanley Cup Hockey Championships, the actual Stanley Cup, will be on display in the Chicago Gay Pride parade, and that Chicago Blackhawk Brent Sopel has volunteered to represent the team in the parade. Blackhawks President John McDonough is rerouting the Stanley Cup from being on display at the NHL draft in LA so it can be part of the gay pride parade in Chicago on Sunday.

Hockey and gay pride? Who knew?

"I am honored to do it," said Sopel, who will be accompanied by wife, Kelly, and his four kids, Jacob, 12, Lyla, 8, Jayla, 6, and Paul, 20, whom they adopted three years ago after Paul's parents died within six months of each other.

Sopel and his family are marching in honor of Brendan Burke, the son of Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke, who was killed in a car accident two months after coming out late last year. "When Brendan came out, Brian stood by him, and his whole family stood by him, like every family should," said Sopel. "We teach our kids about accepting everybody. Tolerate everybody, to understand where everyone is coming from."

Hockey? Gay? Acceptance?

Moving forward!

Brian Burke Continues To Fight For Children

Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke launched a new website this week called MyGSA.ca, which is to be the first national resource dedicated to helping LGBTQ youth. His son, Brendan, was killed in a car accident last February--a few months after the father and son made headlines with the announcement that Brendan was gay.

Now, Brian Burke wants to do something about the bullying of children, especially LGBTQ children, in schools, saying, “We have to get to a point where you can go to school free of fear. Fear is a horrible emotion to feel and smaller kids get picked on and gay kids get picked on. It has got to stop.”

So Burke created the website to protect the rights of bullied LGBTQ Canadians. It contains resources for youth, including questions and answers about human rights legislation and how to start a gay-straight alliance at schools.

Health care, marriage equality, and a hockey organization devoting itself to protecting LGBTQ youth. They have something going on up there, and we need to take a page from their book.

While Burke said he didn’t recall his son ever being picked on--perhaps because even as a young boy, Brendan was over six-feet tall--he did witness an incident in high school that angered him: “I remember the one bullying incident I witnessed in high school, a disabled young man was picking up his books off the floor and someone kicked him as hard as they could. About two seconds later, the gentleman who had kicked him was in the trophy case where I had thrown him. I told the teacher what happened and the teacher said I did the right thing.”

Well, to me, violence isn't the solution to violence, so I'm not sure that was the right thing, but Burke is doing the right thing now.

See it HERE.