Out Son of Hockey Great Dies in Car Crash

Our hearts and thoughts go out to the Burke family as this tragic event is a loss to many across the globe. Your loss is the world’s loss.

According to The Star:

The father-son relationship made headlines throughout Canada and the North American sporting culture in November when Brian Burke revealed to the media that his son was gay.

The public admission of homosexuality by Brendan Burke, a former goalie working with a top-ranked university hockey program, was widely credited with nudging hockey toward overcoming its sometimes homophobic culture.

The younger Burke told the Star at the time he was overwhelmed with the positive feedback he’d received from the public, heralding the support from his father and the hockey world.

“The reaction from the press and fans and everyone has been overwhelmingly positive,” Brendan Burke told thestar.com.

Brendan Burke, the youngest son of Toronto Maple Leafs president and general manager Brian Burke, had his life cut short Friday after being involved in an automobile accident.

‘We Love You, This Won’t Change a Thing’

‘We love you, this won’t change a thing’. Those are the words one can only hope for when they come out to their family. Friends who abandon you when you come out were never friends in the first place, but family is so much more important, and support, or lack of, can hold implications that last a life time.

ESPN has a great post about Brendan Burke, the son of the General Manager for the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs and U.S. Olympic hockey team, Brian Burke.

According to the post:

“I had a million good reasons to love and admire Brendan. This news didn’t alter any of them.

I would prefer Brendan hadn’t decided to discuss this issue in this very public manner. There will be a great deal of reaction, and I fear a large portion will be negative. But this takes guts, and I admire Brendan greatly, and happily march arm in arm with him on this.

There are gay men in professional hockey. We would be fools to think otherwise. And it’s sad that they feel the need to conceal this. I understand why they do so, however.

Can a gay man advance in professional hockey? He can if he works for the Toronto Maple Leafs! Or for Miami University Hockey. God bless Rico Blasi! And I am certain these two organizations are not alone here.

I wish this burden would fall on someone else’s shoulders, not Brendan’s. Pioneers are often misunderstood and mistrusted. But since he wishes to blaze this trail, I stand beside him with an axe! I simply could not be more proud of Brendan than I am, and I love him as much as I admire him.” — Brian Burke

The story is a must read for anyone who’s gay and plays sports.  I’m please when I read stories of how acceptance trumps homophobia in the world of sports, as we all know, it’s not yet the norm.  But, as in the words of Brendan’s dad:

“I hope the day comes, and soon, when this is not a story.”