Study: Being a distraction is one reason why no NHL players have admitted they are gay

[Anaheim4ever]

The moment a player comes out the sports news media will be non stop in asking them questions about it & their once private life would no longer be private & people won't focus on the players talent & instead expect him to get all the awards at the end of the season just because.

 

[Burke the Legend]

A teammate who is overly political or too "hollywood" would also be considered a distraction.

As others have pointed out, it shouldn't be the case that being gay is on the same level as these distractions, but it would be a giant media circus.

 

[Brunomics]

I really think that being gay in the NHL isn't that big a deal anymore to 99% of the players.

The big issue that is if a player is get and it gets out to the media is the absolutely ridiculous amount of coverage and bs that would come with it. Who wants to have their lives broadcast like that? The media will pretty much ruin that person's life and they'll become a distraction in the locker room.

 

[LeHab]

I really think that being gay in the NHL isn't that big a deal anymore to 99% of the players.

The big issue that is if a player is get and it gets out to the media is the absolutely ridiculous amount of coverage and bs that would come with it. Who wants to have their lives broadcast like that? The media will pretty much ruin that person's life and they'll become a distraction in the locker room.

I expect a former player to come out first. There are a lot more former players. Coverage will depend on how much details will be revealed.

 

[Hockeyholic]

Would the NHL be against a gay team captain? Transvestite? Where is the line drawn (If at all)?

 

[LadyStanley]

The "You Can Play" movement in the NHL has opened up some discussion and I think most guys wouldn't care (about sexual orientation, etc.) **as long as the guy played at a high level**.

 

[Balls Mahoney]

Would the NHL be against a gay team captain? Transvestite? Where is the line drawn (If at all)?

Can the transvestite score and throw a punch?

 

[Hockeyholic]

Can the transvestite score and throw a punch?

I am not suggesting I have a limit on who should play. I am just wondering if teams would draw a certain line.

And I agree with you. Sports is about winning.

 

[Balls Mahoney]

I am not suggesting I have a limit on who should play. I am just wondering if teams would draw a certain line.

And I agree with you. Sports is about winning.

I just think it's so lame trying to inject these new politics into the sport. Especially when it's an open secret there's several gay players in the NHL who obviously just want to play. So there's gay people in the NHL? Now what? What's supposed to happen now that we've all accepted this as reality? Are we going to debate what pizza toppings players prefer?

If a guy can play at this level and can take being thrown into the boards or taking a stick to the face, who cares? If a kid is from Pluto or even some godforsaken place like Newfoundland and can go PPG, who doesn't want them on their team?

 

[Hockeyholic]

I just think it's so lame trying to inject these new politics into the sport. Especially when it's an open secret there's several gay players in the NHL who obviously just want to play. So there's gay people in the NHL? Now what? What's supposed to happen now that we've all accepted this as reality? Are we going to debate what pizza toppings players prefer?

If a guy can play at this level and can take being thrown into the boards or taking a stick to the face, who cares? If a kid is from Pluto or even some godforsaken place like Newfoundland and can go PPG, who doesn't want them on their team?

There are owners out there who would be uncomfortable with the idea. That could stop someone from coming out. Maybe they fear bullying.

 

[Advanced stats]

Especially when it's an open secret there's several gay players in the NHL

Is there a source or proof of this at all?

 

[Negan4Coach]

Part of the issue of coming out may lie in the simple fact that a lot of guys just want to play hockey and don't want to become a media darling by coming out. I'm not a hockey player nor gay but if I were both I wouldn't want people interested in me because of my sexual orientation.

Yeah for real. For instance, I work closely with a small company who has a CEO and top executive staff who are all gay. It wasn't for months that I had any idea they were gay. Because they were just businessmen who were into dudes, not cultural gays interested in promulgating some sort of ideology by "coming out". There are undoubtedly some NHL players who without fanfare go out with other dudes, and their teammates don't make a big deal about it, even though they'd make a big deal about a guy going to visit a museum.

 

[MasterofGrond]

Because they were just businessmen who were into dudes, not cultural gays interested in promulgating some sort of ideology by "coming out".

Having the general public know about your sexuality isn't "promulgating some sort of ideology" and that kind of belief is exactly why no players have come out. You wouldn't accuse a guy who talks about getting laid on the weekends of being a "cultural straight."

I know most of us want to get to the point where it's not a thing, and it doesn't need to be addressed, and there's no media kerfuffle when they find out a player is gay. But to reach that point, somebody is going to have to be first to come out, and that person is going to end up being in the middle of a media circus and there's not a lot we can do about that. At some point the band-aid is going to get ripped off, though, and hopefully I'm pleasantly surprised.

 

[NinjaKick]

imo it's actually a positive distraction, if someone is in the public eye and they build up the courage to come out as gay, all that says is that they are incredibly strong

 

[GuelphStormer]

perhaps one day the captain of the USA Olympic hockey team will marry and have kids with the captain of the Canada Olympic hockey team ... oh wait, that happened ... Ex-Captains Of Canada And U.S. Women’s Hockey Teams Just Had A Baby

 

[TheTotalPackage]

In this day and age where everything is over sensationalized, a current player coming out would just blow up and create an absolute media circus. It shouldn't, but it would. I think a former player(s) coming out would help break the barrier and shift the focus. I do wonder though if it wasn't just a single player, but perhaps a few players who all came out together, if that would lessen and spread out the hostile attention that coming out would garner.

For me, it's a matter of "who cares?!" Like seriously...if you're gay, you're gay. You live yours, I live mine. If it's not rammed down our throats, everyone can go on living their lives. There's no reason to make a big deal about it; or shall I say, there is no reason for it to be a big deal.

 

[Negan4Coach]

Having the general public know about your sexuality isn't "promulgating some sort of ideology" and that kind of belief that is would be is exactly why no players have come out. You wouldn't accuse a guy who talks about getting laid on the weekends a "cultural straight."

I know most of us want to get to the point where it's not a thing, and it doesn't need to be addressed, and there's no media kerfuffle when they find out a player is gay. But to reach that point, somebody is going to have to be first to come out, and that person is going to end up being in the middle of a media circus and there's not a lot we can do about that. At some point the band-aid is going to get ripped off, though, and hopefully I'm pleasantly surprised.

Is one even allowed to talk about getting laid on the weekends anymore without being accused of "rape culture"?

 

[PurpleMouse]

Easier said than done, but might be an effective way to break a barrier is if multiple gay players came out of the same time. Divide and conquer the attention and normalize it at a faster rate.

 

[SupremeNachos]

Interesting study, thanks for posting, LS. Im confident that years from now we'll look back and wonder why anyone would think a player being gay is a distraction. Studies like this help that happen.

Because someone makes it their priority to make it an issue. With how much attention pro athletes are paid unless you are a complete nobody someone or some "news" outlet will be around to see if you chew with your mouth open. I would love to hear teammates talk about players that are not gay that are constant distractions ie just like the NFL/NBA.

 

[Summer Rose]

I have a very personal relationship with this issue. I am not gay, but I am transgender. I realized it while I was an official in Arizona. The last thing I wanted to do was to attract attention to myself over it, so I sort of hid it. Most of my fellow officials knew and took approaches like during games to address me by my last name (I legally changed my first and middle names in 2014). As much as I wanted to get away with it, I also recognized that doing things like showing up for games while doing things like wearing makeup or nail polish was just a distraction. As an official I felt like I should be "nobody" to most people involved in my games so I made efforts to not stand out (I did make it a point to refuse to cut my hair short at least). I hoped that my schedulers didn't treat me any differently and that I could get games based on merit rather than any nonsense.

Vaguely related, I'm now working with the fire department and haven't really thought any differently. It's obvious that I'm trans since nobody knew me "beforehand" like Arizona hockey officials did, and some of them struggle and still call me "he" or "him" despite knowing me as my name (not a name that can be mistaken for a male or unisex name such as Taylor or Jordan for example). I'm still driven by not wanting to be a distraction and just wanting to do my job. If the local media comes around wanting to create some buzz that my town's fire department is working with me, I'd love nothing more than to tell them to f*** off because it doesn't matter. Long story short, I feel like I can relate to what they're going through.

It's a tough thing though. Ideally, it shouldn't matter. In practice, it still kind of does, but if you act like it doesn't matter, are you part of the problem or part of the solution? I don't know. I just really don't know.

 

[GuelphStormer]

I have a very personal relationship with this issue.

Thank you for your post and for sharing your story, Katie. As a gay man, I have a personal relationship with this issue as well and Im emboldened by your post. I have met gay hockey players, quite a few of them actually and I have knowledge of some gay NHL players. Sports, sexuality and gender have a complicated relationship. Couple that with media attention at the upper levels of sport and it's quite understandable that some might wish to either stay in the shadows, or more accurately I guess, not seek the expected limelight. Like you, teammates often know and some even become protective. Your story is important for us to understand the personal side of the issue, thanks.

 

[LadyStanley]

Easier said than done, but might be an effective way to break a barrier is if multiple gay players came out of the same time. Divide and conquer the attention and normalize it at a faster rate.

Would need to be at least two per team/region to spread out the impact?

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

The thread title is misleading.

By "distraction" they mean "lose my job because they'll bring in a guy who isn't openly gay and cite things like 'distraction' and 'locker room chemistry' to justify it".

So it allows projection of the uncomfortable environment vis a vis homosexuality onto the media, as if a guy being covered for being gay is the worst thing to ever happen in the history of this sport.

Who even cares? This millennial obsession with breaking imaginary civil rights barriers

Odd. I can't help but notice that not only are there no openly gay players currently player, but no former players who came out post career either. They must not want to be a "distraction", I guess.

 

[Mayor Bee]

The thread title is misleading.

By "distraction" they mean "lose my job because they'll bring in a guy who isn't openly gay and cite things like 'distraction' and 'locker room chemistry' to justify it".

So it allows projection of the uncomfortable environment vis a vis homosexuality onto the media, as if a guy being covered for being gay is the worst thing to ever happen in the history of this sport.

Ask any player what it's like to have a teammate who's the center of a media circus. There are a handful of players in multiple sports who have a passionate fan base just for them, not because of their play on the field or on the court or on the ice, but because they're a symbol of something.

Anyone who ever played a snap with Tim Tebow in the NFL will tell you that he's the nicest and most genuine guy that you'll ever meet, and not a single one would want to deal with the media circus and the volume of extremely loud and extremely annoying fans who can't tell a run or a pass play apart but suddenly become experts on all things football when he's involved. None of Michael Sam's teammates signed on for being accosted in a parking lot by an ESPN reporter, peppering them with questions about the showering habits of players. It's not the regular sports media that would be a concern; it's all the other outlets that take what's supposed to be the core of a team (the locker room) and put it out there for all the world to see.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Ask any player what it's like to have a teammate who's the center of a media circus.

Yes, it absolutely sucks when you just want to be one of the guys and don't want to be singled out for something that really isn't anyone's business.

But if you read the article, that clearly is not what the players who were interviewed are talking about. The quoted snippet in the OP even says this, they're afraid that their "distraction" will result in them losing their job.

We should also consider at what point does it stop being a coincidence born of the free unfettered decision making of dozens of individuals and part of systemic oppression/hostile culture etc etc, ie, yes, no one wants to be distraction, but at what point does that become an excuse for ignoring the factors preventing people from coming out rather than an accurate description of the situation?