Immediately, Finkle skated up to his teammate, and punched him once or twice. The goalie called Finkle a “ fucking faggot.” During one practice, the venom was directed towards him. Thomas Aquinas College in Upstate New York, Finkle often heard other players use anti-gay slurs. That was certainly the case with Stephen Finkle’s teammates. I don’t think any of these players understand the impact it has.” When I go speak, I humanize being a gay man and playing hockey at high levels. “To me, the way to do it is, we need to humanize these issues. “We need to shift hockey culture,” McGillis told me. To McGillis, who came out in 2016 and was subsequently ousted without explanation from the association where he was coaching, their disturbing tirades are emblematic of a larger problem: hate-speech is part of the game’s culture - at least on the men’s side of things. During the quiet of the springtime sports shutdowns, two well-known NHL players, Stanley Cup champion Dustin Penner and winger Brendan Leipsic, were caught posting horribly homophobic and misogynistic messages on social media. Gay former hockey player Brock McGillis spoke to Outsports multiple times this year about the prevalence of homophobia in locker rooms. Hockey is in the midst of a cultural reckoning, with out and proud LGBTQ players leading the way. A slew of players came out, and with each announcement, showed gay people belong on the ice.
![cowboys gay meme longestvyard cowboys gay meme longestvyard](https://i.imgflip.com/13rt7t.jpg)
Barriers were broken this year in the macho-fueled world of men’s ice hockey.