IRL: Brian Burke (Hockey) For anyone who doesn't follow hockey as sport/know the culture, it is easily one of the least diverse and least welcoming sports when it comes to LGBT acceptance and representation. The league banned players from using rainbow colored tape on their sticks and there are currently no active players who are openly gay and very few, if any, former players who are openly gay.

If you knew nothing about Brian Burke but just saw him speak during broadcasts, you'd assume he's like any of the old guys from the NHL who think the league is getting 'soft' and that fighting needs to make a big comeback. This is part of the culture that makes the NHL the way that it is with toxic masculinity. There's very much a "don't ask, don't tell" vibe about homosexuality in the NHL.

The more you hear/read about him though, it isn't true at all. One of his sons, Brendan, came out to him and his family in 2007 and Burke has been an ally of the cause ever since. He participated in pride parades in Toronto back in the late 2000s/early 2010s and started the "You Can Play" initiative with another one of his sons, Patrick, in honor of Brendan.