March 7, 2013
Pro Hockey Player's Coming Out Apparently Rumors
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Some media outlets are reporting that the captain of the Montreal Canadiens, Josh Gorges, will announce that he is gay this week. If he does, he would be the first active professional hockey player to do so. But OutSports, an LGBT sports website, reported that the rumors are false and that the hockey player is actually engaged to his girlfriend.
Logo TV's website cites the Twitter account NHL Insights, which tweeted, "BREAKING NEWS: The first openly gay hockey player may finally have arrived. Rumours swirling around #Montreal #Candiensdressing room. #NHL," on March 4. NHL Insights then wrote that a Montreal Canadiens player said, "'We are behind our teammates 100% in whatever they choose to do. If he wants to go public, we are going to support it #NHL."
The Twitter account then made two more tweets and suggested it may be Gorges who will make the big announcement this week but wrote it is "unconfirmed."
If Gorges, 28, does come out, it will make him the first active out-pro sports professional team player in the world after U.K. rugby player Gareth Jones. It should also be noted that NHL Insights doesn't seem to be a major Twitter account as it only has 444 followers of this writing.
"Gorges is not gay," OutSports' Cyd Zeigler writes. "He is not coming out. In fact, he's engaged to marry his girlfriend -- Imagine their surprise when they heard he is gay and coming out of the closet! To our knowledge -- and we've make some inquiries -- there is no Montreal Canadien planning to come out of the closet any time soon. And even if he were, we'd encourage him to stay in the closet until the season is over."
Gorges himself has not made a statement about the rumors. He has been a pro since 2005. The Canadian native was traded to the Montreal Canadiens back in 2007.
In 2008, he signed a three-year $3.3 million contract with the team. In January, he re-signed with the Canadiens for 6 years at a $3.9 million a year. Gorges, whose nickname is "The Boss," has been praised a number of times for his work ethic and for his performance on the ice.
