A steamy Canadian television show centering on a gay hockey romance has swept the nation after launching on HBO Max, but one real-life gay hockey player doesn’t think the show will make any actual professional players want to come out.

In 2016, Brock McGillis became the first ever out gay professional hockey player. He recently told Pink News that he disagrees “wholeheartedly” with the idea that the show will help queer players feel more comfortable being open about their sexuality.

Related

Riley Gaines ties for 5th place in Outsports’ A-hole of the Year award

“It might help the people around [players] understand a little more if they’re dating somebody; hopefully,” McGillis said, but he cautioned that the show is more likely to become the butt of jokes in locker rooms than an inspiration.

“It’s probably more likely to have an adverse effect on a player coming out,” he said. “And I hate to be negative because I really enjoy the show. But I also don’t believe that many hockey bros are going to watch it. And I don’t think, if they are watching it, they’re talking about it positively.”

Never Miss a Beat

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

That being said, he emphasized that hockey players are “really good people.”

“If a player did come out, hockey players would be the most likely to rally around their teammate more than any of the other big sports,” he posited.

The problem, he said, is that players don’t realize how problematic their words can be and how they might keep people in the closet. He said one thing about hockey culture that the show does not portray accurately is just how normalized homophobia is in daily conversations.

“The language, behaviors, and attitudes that you get in locker rooms are sometimes homophobic – that starts at a very young age and progresses through your whole life. You’re programmed to feel that everyone will hate you and you’ll lose your career.”

“Sometimes I don’t think people recognise what they’re saying or the impact it has,” McGillis said. “But if you’re hearing that daily, it’s death by 1,000 paper cuts.”

No active NHL player has ever come out.

McGillis never played in the NHL. Additionally, he did not come out until after his hockey career had ended. In 2021, Nashville Predators prospect Luke Prokop came out in a social media post, which made him the first player under contract in the National Hockey League (NHL) – active or retired – to come out. Prokop never actually played for the Predators, though, and remained in the minor leagues until the team released him.

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.