Hockey teams continue the anti-gay fight

In sports, homophobic epithets are used on virtually every field, pitch, ice and court to demean opponents. â┚¬Å”Stop playing like a fag.â┚¬Â â┚¬Å”Don't be a cocksucker.â┚¬Â Old-school coaches cling to this guarded tool to motivate young athletes who cringe at the thought of being associated with anything â┚¬Ëœgay.' Teams celebrate the casual use of these words as a rite of passage.

But that language has no place in the Miami, Ohio, hockey program. Having experienced the coming out and untimely death of openly gay student manager Brendan Burke just over a year ago, the team's awareness of gay issues is unlike any other in NCAA hockey, and maybe all of NCAA men's sports.

â┚¬Å”After Brendan came out I realized that those words shouldn't be used, even in slang,â┚¬Â said junior forward Trent Vogelhuber, who admits he once liberally tossed around anti-gay slurs. â┚¬Å”[Brendan] said he didn't take it personally, but he noticed when those words were used. I just made a conscious effort to not use the words he might feel uncomfortable around.â┚¬Â

Junior defenseman Chris Wideman said he was fully accepting of gay people before Burke's revelation to the team; anti-gay slurs have never been on the tip of his tongue.

â┚¬Å”It's not a way to live,â┚¬Â Wideman said. â┚¬Å”It's offensive and hurtful to a group of people who don't deserve that. You don't hear anybody walking around dropping racial slurs all the time.â┚¬Â

Taking it to the NHL
Team assistant captain Andy Miele was one of the best players in NCAA hockey this year. He was named the 2011 Player of the Year for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (the top conference in hockey in 2011); He not only led the nation in points (71) and assists (47), but he scored the most points in a season in Division 1 since 2003, and his 56 points in conference are the most in two decades.

Miele's staggering numbers don't feed into the stereotypical image of a man who would champion gay equality, but Miele has become an outspoken advocate for acceptance of gay people both in sports and beyond. A close friend of Burke, Miele remembers times dancing with his gay friend at a local bar and he doesn't care who knows it.

Miele's agent, Scott Norton, said 12 NHL teams are pursuing Miele for next season. Patrick Burke, brother of Brendan and a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers, could not praise Miele highly enough.

â┚¬Å”The fact that numerous NHL teams are competing to sign Andy shows how well-respected he is,â┚¬Â Patrick said. â┚¬Å”Whatever team he chooses is getting a tremendous hockey player and an even better person.â┚¬Â

What if one of those teams doesn't like the fact that he is so vocally pro-gay?

â┚¬Å”If someone wants to look down upon me because of my feelings on this issue, that's their loss,â┚¬Â Miele said. â┚¬Å”You play hockey because of the way you play it, not because of your outlook on certain issues.â┚¬Â

Miele said hearing the word â┚¬Å”faggotâ┚¬Â casually tossed around a professional locker room would likely not drive him to action, particularly in his first year. However, if he heard a pro teammate use a homophobic slur directed at a gay person, he would start a conversation.

â┚¬Å”I'd say something,â┚¬Â LoVerde said. â┚¬Å”I'm pretty stubborn. I'd ask him why he hates gay people, that they're just like him and me.â┚¬Â

The gay-positive attitude certainly hasn't hurt the Miami team. They finished second in the nation in 2009, losing an overtime thriller in the championship. In 2010, they returned to the Frozen Four and lost in the national semifinals. This year they were ranked No. 5 in the nation but lost in the round of 16.