Patrick Burke is trying to change the homophobic culture of hockey dressing rooms.
Burke’s brother, Brendan, came out in 2009 while playing on the Miami University hockey team in Oxford, Ohio. Brendan began speaking about being a gay athlete, but his message was cut short when he died in a car crash last year.
Since then, Patrick and his family, which includes Maple Leaf GM Brian Burke [winner of the 2011 FGG Straight Ally Legacy Award], have advocated for inclusivity, especially for gay athletes. Patrick, a straight ally, now spreads the word on behalf of his brother in addition to his scouting duties with the Philadelphia Flyers.
On Saturday, Patrick will talk about his brother’s story at the [new member of the FGG] OutSport Toronto 2011 Fall Scrum , a day of discussion about the challenges of being gay in sport. The Star spoke to Patrick on Thursday about his brother’s story and homophobia in hockey.
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How did casual homophobia affect your brother?
Well, he’s sitting in the locker room hearing guys who are supposed to be his good friends and teammates and hearing them use words that insults who he was as a person — that’s hard on any athlete and it was hard on my brother. But that stopped when he came out. He didn’t have any issues when he came out. It was a real positive experience for him. It was hard before he came out because he was hiding such a big part of himself from his teammates and he always felt like he was lying to his teammates. So he often felt he wasn’t truly a part of the team.
Have your talks brought into effect change in the locker room?
We spoke to University of Denver hockey team and now it is no longer acceptable to use homophobic slurs in their dressing room. They police it by teammates correcting others.
When will we see a gay athlete in North American professional sports?
I think it’s going to be soon. It will be a huge step, but we’ll be surprised by how much of a non-story it is for him and his teammates. The next generation of athletes seems to care very little about someone’s sexuality. There will be one who’s out and always gay and gets drafted as a gay athlete, goes through the minors as a gay athlete and by the time he’s in the big league, it’s a non-story.
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