Calgary Flames use ‘pride tape’ to send message of inclusivity

The rainbow was all the rage Tuesday night at the Saddledome as the Calgary Flames marked “Hockey is for Everyone” Pride Night on home ice.

Brightly coloured pride tape could be seen on the sticks of each and every player during the warm-up ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.

The Flames organization has been one of the biggest proponents of the initiative, designed to combat homophobia in sports.

More than 20 National Hockey League teams have so far used “pride tape,” a colourful dressing for their hockey sticks.

‘Hockey is for Everyone’ began in partnership with the ‘You Can Play Project,’ a not-for-profit that supports athletics and the LGBTQ community that was first started by Brendan Burke who came out as gay in November 2009.

As a result, it’s deeply personal for his father Brian Burke, President of Hockey Operations for the Calgary Flames.

“As a hockey executive, we want everyone to know this building is open to everyone, everyone is welcome here, everyone is welcome on our team. We don’t care what church you go to, we don’t care what your sexual orientation is. Our players feel that way and management and ownership feel that way, so that’s the number one message. Everyone is welcome at our games,” he told 660 NEWS. “Personally, obviously I have a bigger stake in this cause, I had a son who was gay, who we lost in a car accident a few years ago and the ‘You Can Play’ group was founded in his memory. So it’s a special night for me.”

Burke says there is a drop off in team sports with young boys who are gay, and that ‘You Can Play’ was a message to the athletes that they can make a difference.

“When Brendan came out, I said ‘you’re going to have a much easier time than gay men did when I was in high school’,” said Burke. “I went to a high school with three grades in Minnesota, 1,000 kids in each grade, 3,000 students, no gay people. Of course, there were gay people back then. You didn’t dare come out, and so the change in that brief time, which is a brief time — 30-40 years — has been dramatic, but there is still a lot of work to do.”

He says statistics show there are gay people within the league, and calls it a misnomer when he hears ‘I wish there was a player brave enough to come out in the NHL’. It’s his belief most choose to keep quiet for personal reasons.

“What’s great about coming here, when I got here I was a big supporter of the LGBTQ community because of Brendan, but there was no sales job here. Ownership here and management was completely behind it. Alberta has a reputation as a redneck province, but actually on the LGBTQ front, we’re pretty progressive.”

He says player participation has been tremendous. Burke says they initially asked 20 players to do the head shots with HBO for the campaign. and he had others wondering why they weren’t chosen.

It’s the third “Pride Night” for the Flames alone this season, after playing games in Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh.

The Flames haven’t stopped at just the one night. Earlier in the season Matt Stajan, Troy Brouwer, Chad Johnson and goaltending coach Jordan Sigalet marched in the Calgary Pride Parade.

The Calgary Flames Foundation also provided a $25,000 grant to the You Can Play Project’s Western Canada Ambassador Program.