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August 12, 2022
Canada’s biggest youth hockey league, the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL), has partnered with You Can Play Project, a social activism campaign dedicated to the eradication of homophobia in sports, centered on the slogan, ‘If you can play, you can play’. The three-year partnership focuses on creating a space that is more inviting to 2SLGBTQ+ (Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning and additional sexual orientations and gender identities) athletes, coaches, officials and fans.
Through a joint initiative focused primarily on inclusion training for staff, coaches, officials and players, the pair aims to better educate players, coaches and parents about 2SLGBTQ+ issues and encourage a greater sense of inclusion. The commitment is part of the league’s plan to improve the diversity, inclusion, equity and overall culture of hockey throughout the league and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). You Can Play will also create an inclusive coaching guide for GTHL officials focused on creating safe spaces and shifting focus from sexual identity and gender to the actual game.
“To truly do justice to all of the families in the GTA, we need to make sure we create the safest space for all participants,” said Scott Oakman, executive director and chief operating officer of the GTHL. “[The guide] will allow the coaches to make sure that they’re comfortable talking about and being part of any conversations that might come about in this space, giving them some tools in order to speak to – in an informed way – these types of issues.”
You Can Play is celebrating its 10th anniversary of working to ensure safety and inclusion for all who participate in sports, including those who identify in the 2SLGBTQ+ group. The project achieves this by “creating a community of allies that can foster a sense of belonging focusing on an individual’s skills, work ethic and competitive spirit, rather than sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.”
Alongside the inclusion training, the initiative plans to create simple and easy-to-use activations and messaging to empower coaches, athletes and the league to embrace inclusivity and “help move the needle on more safe locker rooms, arenas and sport settings.”
A 2020 study shows that 48% of Canadian youth who came out to teammates reported being the target of homophobic behavior including bullying, assaults and slurs. Additionally, young people who came out were significantly more likely (58% compared to 40%) to report homophobia in sport settings than those who didn’t. This is while studies report that 20% of millenials identify as LGBTQ and 60% say they are allies.
“We really need to educate the leaders in the GTHL, the coaches and the support staff because they are the ones who grew up learning about the LGBTQ population in a different way,” said Denis Vachon, partnerships manager of the You Can Play project. He also shared his admiration to the GTHL and its work to ensure current players feel safe in the sport — and that the next generation of parents feel comfortable involving their child in the sport of hockey.
Source: The Globe and Mail
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