“If you can play, you can play” is a seven-word mantra taken from a piece written by Brendan. Public-service announcements, with 36 NHL players so far signing on, deliver a simple, powerful message that an athlete’s sexual orientation does not matter. The initiative is in honour of Brendan Burke, their son and brother, who came out shortly before he was killed in a car accident in 2010. Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke and his son, Patrick, a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers, have just launched the You Can Play Project to tackle the “casual homophobia” of professional hockey, where there is still no openly gay athlete. It was hard enough to share it with his mom and dad.īut as a young athlete, steeped in the machismo of sport, where “about the worst thing” is to be a “fag” or a “homo,” there was one conversation that was even harder. He played football, basketball, softball and hockey. OTTAWA - Scott Heggart was a big, strapping teenager, who topped out at six foot four.
Photograph by: BRUNO SCHLUMBERGER, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN Scott Heggart, is the only openly gay athlete from Lanark-Carleton Minor Hockey League.
