Canada

[davidtrump 0]

Canada is home to a large LGBT sports community, having hosted the inaugural World OutGames. Local organizations like Équipe Montréal, OutSport Toronto and Team Vancouver represent LGBT sport within their respective cities.

Canada was also a leader in the creation of Pride House facilities for LGBT athletes at sporting events, having organized the first-ever Olympic Pride House when Vancouver hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics. Similarly, Toronto's Pride House during the 2015 Pan American Games was the first time a Pride House facility was available at the Pan Ams. At the 2018 Olympic Games in South Korea, the Canadian athletes' pavilion also doubled as a Pride House for all LGBT athletes at the games regardless of nationality, due to the South Korean organizers' reluctance to organize a Pride House of their own.

In December 2013, The 519 received Toronto City Council approval to build a sport and recreation centre focused on sport inclusion. Once built, the new centre will provide a home to Toronto's over 6,000 LGBT sport participants.

Canadian media have also often been leaders in covering issue of homophobia in sport; in 1993, CBC Radio aired a groundbreaking hour-long documentary on LGBT sportspeople as a special episode of its sports series The Inside Track. Canadian filmmakers have also produced a number of noted documentary films about LGBT issues in sport, including Noam Gonick's To Russia with Love (2014), Michael Del Monte's Transformer (2017) and Paul-Émile d'Entremont's Standing on the Line (2019). The Canadian drama film Breakfast with Scot, about a gay retired hockey player, was authorized by the Toronto Maple Leafs to use the team's real name and logo in the film, the first LGBT-themed film ever given approval by a sports team.

Many Canadian sports teams are active partners in You Can Play, an international initiative to combat homophobia in sports. The initiative was launched in 2012 by Brian Burke while he was general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, but is active in both Canada and the United States. The Canadian Olympic Committee also organizes #oneteam, a speakers bureau for LGBTQ identified and supportive athletes to speak on homophobia in sports.

 

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