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By Mike Lieberman
Sports in Briefs

Brendan Burke died Friday.

Never heard of him? Maybe I should rephrase it in a way that you might better recognize him.

One of six children of Brian Burke, president and general manager of the most valuable hockey franchise in the NHL, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and GM of the United States hockey team for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Brendan Burke died Friday.

Brendan Burke, seen here in a family photo after his father captured the Stanley cup as GM of the Anaheim Ducks.

For those who have heard of Brendan, you likely would have best understood this:

Brendan Burke, the openly gay son of Brian Burke, died Friday.

And unfortunately, that is what made Friday’s tragic event newsworthy.

I’ve never met Brendan, never knew him personally. Like most people, I only became aware of him when ESPN’s John Buccigross wrote a moving piece about Brendan in November.

With the Buccigross story, Brendan became a household name. His father, one of the most powerful and polarizing figures in hockey, showed his softer side. The University of Miami hockey team, led by coach Enrico Blasi, became a haven for open-mindedness and inclusion.

The article also made Brendan a question-in-waiting, namely: Will the hockey establishment be able to accept an openly gay man? Brendan was a manager of the RedHawks hockey team, but he was also planning to attend law school, with the hope of working in an NHL front office like his father.

Whether or not Brendan would have been able to craft a career in hockey will never go answered, though I’m inclined to say he would have. The issue prompts the natural follow-up, though: Would hockey, or any major league-level team sport, accept an openly gay man? (more…)

Tagged with: Brendan BurkeGay AthletesSports
 

Proposition H8:
An Open Letter to Andy Pugno

Andrew Pugno,  serves as the Chief Legal Counsel for protectmarriage.com which spearheads the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign.

Commentary by Erika Napoletano
toywithme.com

Mr. Pugno ~

Erika Napoletano here -– no relation to Janet or the other plethora of political Napoletanos running around out there. See, I got the name in the divorce. (Yes, the D-Word.) It was fancy, had a ring to it. While I didn’t want the relationship that went with the ring, I kept the snazzy name. I can already tell I’m your worst nightmare. I build broken homes.

I’ve been following your shenanigans for a while now and I have to say that I’m disappointed you played the “for the children” card. While I’m legally twenty years past being included with the children, I can remember what it was like growing up in a home with heterosexual parents.

They were divorced. Damn them and their selfishness, refusing to stay together for the children. My mother worked and went to school, my dad held a civil engineering job. My brother, sister and I were latchkey kids, microwaving after school snacks and learning to cook on nights mom got home late. We spent every other weekend at Dad’s, playing with model trains and running around his tiny little apartment until he told us to simmer down since people lived below him. Christ – kids really can’t run quietly. It was a bit of a buzzkill, but hey – those were the rules. (more…)

Tagged with: Andy PugnoProposition 8
 

Who do we have to blow to get gay marriage in New York?

Gov Paterson at Gay Pride
From the Village Voice:

In Europe, Gay Pride parades are held each year on the occasion known as “Christopher Street Day”—a nod to the New York street that gave birth to the worldwide gay rights movement with the Stonewall riots.

But if this city once signified the leading edge of that movement, what does it say that in those European countries celebrating our fair city, there’s gay marriage equality, but here, where the struggle for rights began, New York still can’t get it right?

That seemed about to change at the beginning of the year. Governor Paterson was fully supportive of gay marriage rights, his popularity hadn’t fully tanked yet, and gay voters had helped tip the State Senate in the Democrats’ favor for the first time in 40 years. By June, Republican minority leader Dean Skelos said he’d let his members vote as they saw fit, and wouldn’t block a gay marriage vote on the Senate floor. Once a marriage bill passed in the Assembly, the future looked as gay as a revival of Meet Me in St. Louis.

Voters, it’s true, rejected gay marriage in California and Maine, and gay marriage’s Cassandra, Maggie Gallagher, resides right here in our state. But even Gallagher couldn’t do anything about it if our legislature approved a marriage equality bill and Governor Paterson signed it into law.

“It would be difficult, if not impossible, for an opponent to repeal a new law,” says Justin Phillips, assistant professor of political science at Columbia University. “The reason it was so easy in California and Maine is that those states have citizen initiatives, which allow voters to draft a new law or amend their constitution. New York does not.” Once New York approves an equal marriage law, says Phillips, “it’s pretty much here to stay.”

So what, then, is the hang-up?

In a word, it’s the Democrats…

Continue reading at the Village Voice.

Tagged with: Gay MarriageNew York