Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
Brock McGillis is on a mission to make hockey a more inclusive sport.
The former OHL and professional goalie made headlines in 2016 after coming out as gay.
"It was difficult to be gay in hockey," McGillis said. "Especially in men’s hockey. I mean the language, the attitudes, (and) the behaviours in the locker room. We're not very welcoming."
The 40-year-old 2SLGBTQ+ advocate plans to speak to 100 minor league hockey teams in 100 days – a journey that started in Vancouver in Nov. 2023 and will wrap up on Feb. 3 in Toronto, visiting teams in seven Canadian cities along the way.
"I try and share my story to humanize the impact of trying to be gay within the sport," said McGillis. "I think it's all about impact really, when they recognize impact they are going to evolve."
CTV News watched a recent session with two minor league team in Ottawa.
McGillis starts by challenging the young teenage players to confront homophobic slurs he says are all too common in dressing rooms around the country.
"Who here has used homophobic language?" McGillis asks the group.
Today, only one player puts up their hand.
"Usually no one puts their hands up,” McGillis said before the session.
"Either you’re all a bunch of saints and this is one of the most progressive hockey teams I have been near or talked to in my life," he told the young players. "Or we’re not being fully honest."
He then reassures the players there is no judgement and asks again.
This time three-quarters of the team raises their hands.
McGillis says he doesn’t want to shame the players, only to have them realize how normalized this sort of language has become, and how it can devastate others.
"When I was on the ice growing up, nothing else in my life mattered," McGillis said. "My sexuality didn't matter, a bad day at school didn't matter, an argument with a friend, whatever it was. Everything went away when I got on the ice."
"The problem was I had to go to the locker room first," the former OHL goalie said.
He then reminds them how influential they can be as young players.
"So maybe now (younger players will) stand up to their teammate that says something homophobic," McGillis said. "Maybe now they are a little more inclusive and welcoming to the queer kid at school? Maybe they now have a teammate who feels safe to come out?”
During the talk, McGillis shares personal anecdotes, uses humour to lighten the mood and provides resources for those who may need help.
"Yeah I'm talking about being gay and 2LGBTQ+ but pick the topic," McGillis told the group. "Racism, misogyny, ableism, mental health, bullying, it doesn't matter what it is, we can make it a little bit better."
Nathan Escala plays for an under-15 team in Ottawa and was listening to the discussion.
“I've been around (homophobic slurs) before and I think that I could have been able to tell them to not say that,” Escala said.
McGillis is looking for responses like this, when young players realize "they can create shifts and become shift makers."
The search for leadership comes after the NHL has struggled with recent inclusion controversies.
Last year, the league decided to ban players from using rainbow-coloured tape after several players objected to wearing Pride warm-up jerseys while the league was trying to promote 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion.
"When players didn't wear jerseys, frankly, from my perspective, I looked at it and said they have the freedom of choice not to," McGillis said. "And I'm ok with that, and I'd rather know."
"I don't want fake inclusion. I don't want people to pretend their inclusive, wear a jersey for a night and actually be anti-LGBTQ+, or anti-any group," he said.
In October, the NHL rescinded its ban using tape to support social causes after Arizona Coyotes defenceman Travis Dermott defied the prohibition, and sported "Pride tape" on his stick.
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
The family of one of the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018 says they are 'thankful' for a decision by a Calgary immigration board to deport the driver of the truck involved.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has confirmed it is working with local Mounties and the BC Coroners Service after a plane crash near Squamish, B.C. Friday night.
An emotional outburst in a London, Ont. courtroom Friday disrupted the sentencing hearing of a woman who pleaded guilty for her part in the death of 29-year-old Mohammed Abdallah.
Three people have died after a vehicle veered off the road in Shediac N.B., Friday morning.
An Edmonton woman found guilty of trying to kill her three children has been denied an appeal.
When one is extended an invitation to the Royal Garden Party in London, England, there's undoubtedly no shortage of pomp and circumstance. Barrie, Ont. natives Megan Kirk Chang and her husband Brandon experienced just that as they entered the prestigious event hosted at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday.
An unlikely celebrity emerged from social media to cheer on the Edmonton Oilers as they face the Dallas Stars tonight in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
The proprietors of Regina's sole discount theatre are aware they're carrying on a significant legacy.
When Jujhar Mann said he wanted to be a pastry chef on a grade school career project, he didn't imagine that pursuing his dream would land him on a popular Netflix baking competition.
A city known for its history, ties to outer space and southern barbecue, is also home to a Winnipeg chef dishing out dozens of perogies.
A Montreal photographer captured the moment a Canada goose defended itself from a fox at the Botanical Garden.
Public libraries in Atlantic Canada are now lending a broader range of items.
Flashes of purple darting across the sky mixed with the serenading sound of songs will be noticed more with spring in full force in Manitoba.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.