[1] [2]

Brian Burke [3], the GM for the Toronto Maple Leafs, was the main speaker when Egale Canada [4], the country’s national gay and lesbian political rights organization, launched a new site. Called MyGSA.ca [5], the web address serves as an information center for Canadian teachers and their gay and lesbian students.Burke talked about his son, Brendan [6]; the young man, a senior at Miami University and advocate for gay rights, died in an early February car accident. Before his untimely death, father and son were profiled on ESPN [7]. The story focused on a young gay man and the support he received from his father, family, and the Maple Leafs organization.

The elder Burke wants to continue the good work his son started. This means making sure gay and lesbian students can attend school without harassment

“I hate bullies,” he said. “We have to get to the point where everyone can go to school free of fear.” [8]

Burke is convinced there is a closeted player in the NHL, but fear keeps that unknown player from stepping out. It’s not clear if Burke by himself can sweep that away. That job takes more than one man; however, he gets points for being a great father and doing his best to make sure no kid feels he/she has to hide.

[1] http://outsports.com/jocktalkblog/2010/05/18/brian-burke-fights-homophobia-in-schools/
[2] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/Burkes-top.jpg
[3] http://outsports.com/jocktalkblog/2010/05/18/brian-burke-fights-homophobia-in-schools/
[4] http://www.egale.ca/
[5] http://mygsa.ca/first
[6] http://www.365gay.com/news/burke-talks-about-sons-death/
[7] http://outsports.com/jocktalkblog/2009/11/25/nhl-gm-brian-burke-supports-his-gay-son/
[8] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/keeping-his-sons-voice-alive-brian-burke-joins-fight-against-homophobia/article1572404/

Monday Watercooler: Roseanne talks too much and Ashburn adores male tail…on the sly

Stop talking Roseanne. Please. Comic Roseanne thought it best to pontificate about the suicide of Marie Osmond’s child, Michael Blosil. Barr is convinced the 18 year old took his life because he was gay and despondent over the anti-gay policies of the Mormon Church. “Marie Osmond’s poor gay son killed …

Funeral Mass held for gay son of Maple Leafs GM

Brendan Burke, the son of Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke and an advocate for gay rights, was remembered Tuesday for his compassion and courage four days after his death in a car crash on a snowy Indiana road.

“From birth, he had an unshakable faith in the genuine good …

What will parents do to avoid having a gay son?

In the early 1990s, when genetic research was far less advanced than today, Jonathan Tolins posed the question: If a woman knew in advance that her male baby would be born gay, would she still go through with the pregnancy?

That’s the premise of his 1992 drama “The Twilight of the Golds,” which was filmed for cable television in 1997 and which receives an emotionally gripping staging courtesy of Theatre Out.

Through her husband’s medical research firm, which has devised genetic testing of fetuses, the pregnant Suzanne Gold-Stein (Jennifer Pearce) has discovered that her baby boy has the genetic markers of homosexuality.

The question of whether to keep the baby is, in fact, illuminated by the family’s firsthand experience: Suzanne’s brother David (Tim Woods) is gay, a factor that has, despite their denials, always affected his bond with her and with their parents.

The play is told from the opera-loving David’s point of view, its title a pun drawn from “The Twilight of the Gods,” the fourth opera in Wagner’s “Ring” Cycle. He frames the play’s focal issue when he asks, “What difference does being gay make?” As the story progresses, its ethical complications are magnified, even as Tolins takes time out to assail the materialism of the 1980s.

Complicating the ethical dilemma posed by Tolins is the way it splits the family. For David, who is, ironically, pro-choice, aborting the baby is tantamount to killing him. As much as she dotes on David, mom Phyllis (Karen Harris) has to admit that “it hurts to see your child become something different.”

Seeing genetic testing as a boon to mankind, Suzanne’s husband Rob (Eric James) insists that he and Suzanne “don’t need David to tell us how to live our lives,” while patriarch Walter Gold (Rick Kopps) maintains that “it’s Rob and Suzanne’s decision.”

See What will parents do to avoid having a gay son?

OCRegister -