Yes, this has been diaried before, but not with a link to the video. As JGibson wrote in a diary on April 11,
Today, the NHL and the NHLPA have announced a partnership with the LGBTQ-friendly You Can Play Project in an effort to curb homophobia in the league and making it more inclusive towards LGBTQ players and their allies.
As you know, this is the foundation that Brian Burke, the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and his son Patrick Burke, a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers, founded in memory of Brian's son and Patrick's brother Brendan, an out gay man who played hockey at Miami University and was on his way to a career in the NHL when he was killed in an automobile accident. Yes, the NHL and its Players Association have embraced the program, as you can see here.
In this video: Patrick Burke (Philadelphia), Brian Burke (Toronto), Rick Nash (Columbus), Duncan Keith (Chicago), Brian Boyle (New York), Matt Moulson (New York Islanders), Joffrey Lupul (Toronto), Claude Giroux (Philadelphia), Daniel Alfredsson (Ottawa), Scott Hartnell (Philadelphia), Corey Perry (Anaheim), Andy Greene (New Jersey), Dion Phaneuf (Toronto), Henrik Lundqvist (New York).
It gets better! Why am I writing this today? We're coming up on the playoffs, and I'm on the foundation's email list. They asked me to tweet it and to Facebook it, and I did, but I have a greater reach here than I do on twitter and Facebook, so here it is. Besides, it has produced other videos the same way the It Gets Better project did.
Below the great orange stylized octopus (that's for you Red Wings fans) for some more of these.
Filmed during the 2012 All-Star game. Jason Pominville and Zdeno Chara, team captains of the Buffalo Sabres and the Boston Bruins.
Tommy Wingels of the San Jose Sharks, a teammate of Brendan Burke's at Miami University.
It's about as unambiguous as any message, ESPECIALLY in sports, can get. Brian Kitts, who describes himself as a little fat soccer-playing child who grew up, is one of the three co-founders of You Can Play, and here's a remarkable paragraph from his statement at the You Can Play website
It turns out that most of us have a gay little brother or sister, or uncle, cousin, teammate or best friend. We all laugh and snicker at gay jokes and we call each other names. We’re just kidding, kind of, and it’s funny , right? We might not mean anything by it, but the subtle pressure, casual homophobia, and true lack of understanding are keeping our brothers and sisters, uncles, cousins, teammates and best friends from being great athletes.
Coming out for non-gay people, I think. Important message.
Dustin Brown and Alex Martinez right after the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2012.
Ryan Kesler, Dustin Byfuglien and Tanner Glass.
And from twitter:
I've never asked you to do this, but tweet and Facebook this. Yes, I think the first pro gay athlete to come out while he's playing will be from the NHL. After his team has won the Stanley Cup most likely, so he can ride with it in a pride parade. No, Brent Sopel isn't gay but he thought this would be a great idea in Chicago in 2010. I agree.