Fighting Homophobia in Professional Ice Hockey

Patrick Burke and his father Brian are working to change the "casual homophobia" in professional Ice Hockey.  Patrick's brother Brendan came out as gay a year before he died in a car accident in 2010.




This ad features

Rick Nash of the Columbus Blue Jackets; Duncan Keith of the Chicago Blackhawks; Brian Boyle of the New York Rangers; Matt Moulson of the New York Islanders; Joffrey Lupul of the Toronto Maple Leafs; Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers; Daniel Alfredsson of the Ottawa Senators; Scott Hartnell of the Philadelphia Flyers; Corey Perry  of the Anaheim Ducks; Andy Greene of the New Jersey Devils; Dion Phaneuf of the Toronto Maple Leafs; and Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers.

Patrick Burke hopes You Can Play can help achieve his late brother's dreams for the sport in every level: That it becomes a place of acceptance, support and safety for gay athletes, to the point that one day an openly gay player can compete for a National Hockey League team without incident and feeling secure about it.

Because as long as they can play, they can play.

It's a great article, and a great campaign. 

Namaste,
Lee

ps - My thanks to Heather for sharing this with me, so I could share it with all of you!

A Powerful 30 second 'Don't Say Gay' (in a bad way) PSA... Made by an 8th grader and his little brother!

I love this thirty-second video:



Awesome! (the crack of the wet celery with the slaps is a hoot.) But the best thing about this is the message. And it's going viral.

So how about it?

How about your GSA - or you and your friends - putting together your own PSA and sharing it with the world?

Inspiring, huh?

Namaste,
Lee

ps - thanks to my gem of a husband for sharing this with me!

What Would Jim Hensen Do? Or, Will The Real Kermit The Frog Please Stand Up?

Kermit The Frog's Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

So a good friend send me an email after my post on Monday, asking if I'd considered that the Kermit The Frog "It Gets Better" video I shared wasn't an official Kermit The Frog video from Jim Henson Studios/Children's Television Workshop/Sesame Street. It's a good point.

I don't know Chris Tuttle (who posted the video), but yeah, I guess it's probably someone who got a really good Kermit puppet and did the voice and video themselves. Because they probably wished there would be an official Kermit the Frog "It Gets Better" video out there to talk to kids about being isolated and bullied and urge them to speak up - to urge all of us to STAND UP and make things better.

And there was no official video.

So this is sort of a guerilla public service message.

I think there are a bunch of issues to untangle here.

1. While anti-bullying seems a universally accepted and important message, isn't it a slippery slope to say it's okay to take someone else's intellectual property and image and use it to promote an idea if they haven't approved it? What if the PETA people did a video where Kermit spoke up against eating meat - and became a guerilla vegetarian spokesfrog? That might be fine for vegetarians, but not so cool with the people who control Kermit.

2. If anti-bullying is such a universally accepted message, why hasn't there been an official Kermit The Frog "It Gets Better" video? Why haven't they had the real Kermit STAND UP in that way?

Do you remember what happened back when PBS shot the "Sugartime!" episode of "Postcards of Buster" that showed a two-mom family? Margaret Spellings (the then Secretary of Education) wrote a letter to PBS basically threatening them and asking for the government's money back for that episode! Because there's a public funding element to PBS/CTW/Sesame Street, there's a vulnerability to the prejudices of lawmakers - and that prevents some really great stuff from happening.

3. There's a fair-use right for comedy/satire - should there also be a fair-use right for public safety? I mean, Kermit's done ads for the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Board (nonwithstanding there are people who don't want kids drinking so much cow milk) - but I bet they got permission.



4. Why haven't Ernie and Bert done a "It Gets Better" video?

5. What would Jim Henson do? We can't ask him because he died back in 1990, but what would be in keeping with his spirit?

It will be interesting to see if the guerilla public service announcement video is allowed to stay up at youtube. Maybe PBS/CTW/Sesame Street/The Jim Henson Company can't come out and officially approve this message, but they can let it stand as is. Or will they "officially" do something about confronting bullying that reaches outside their preschool audience? Or will they just hire Chris to help spread the good word?

Because at the end of the day, I do love this Kermit the Frog "It Gets Better" video. But I admit, it's a tangled situation.

What do you think?

Namaste,
Lee