Team Gforce, America’s Gay Hockey Team, Cancels Annual Tournament

The economy continues to take its hits.  Team Gforce, a national gay hockey team, has announced it will not be holding its annual “Friendship Cup” tournament in Aspen, CO, this year.

The team has announced they are simply unable to raise the $30,000 the tournament requires, due to cut backs in sponsorships and private donations.   Team Gforce believes it can still hold the tournament – scaled back – for $10,000.  As a 501-c-3 organization, Team Gforce is welcoming donations, which can be made through gforcehockey.com/donatenow.php.

Team Gforce has team members from all around the country, and it is not clear if the team will or will not continue to play in other venues around the country, venues where it would be a guest team and not a tournament host, as, ostensibly, that would only entail the costs of plane fares for the team's members.

I would imagine so, and if so, that may mean that the “Friendship Cup” could be back in business in the near future, should Team Gforce be able to rekindle its donor base to cover the costs of the event.

Comments

[wayne knaub]

i agree and will support this team [ wish i could apply for this team ] i believe in their message and lets support teams like this just because we gay doesn;t mean we cannot play on a level field not all gays are femme i think its about time its long over due

[muzyqman]

I just wrote a check. If I'd heard about this a month ago, before I did all my holiday shopping, I could have sent more. However, I do hope that enough people will open their hearts and their wallets so that the tournament can go on.

[Scott Nelson]

As I always say, if you can’t be an Athlete be an Athletic Supporter…Love to watch Hockey but have no idea how to skate…a check is on the way!

[The Devil of the Contra Code]

The "Friendship Cup" sounds like the gayest shit ever. However, I'm glad they posted the video so I knew what the fuck this group was about although I could have done without the hot tub scenes (for the serious aspect of the team). Nevertheless, I get the point of the group and it seems like a positive thing to do.

[blah]

what's with showing the coach bending over? gay.com always has to make their articles laced with sexual innuendos.

[Timothy]

I made a paypal donation. I wish them the best.

It would be nice if "the other" gay social site would support and sponsor them instead of throwing money at a presidantial candidate.

[Foghorn]

I agree, the hot tub video clips is a bit to much. I just ate supper here. But then why must gay always have to prove something. Cant we all just be "human" and not this "I'm gay and I need special....fill in the blank."

I almost wanted to throw something into my laptop when I saw two guys kissing on this video also. Sure I love to take my 5 year old to a gay hockey team and later have to explain why two players were groping one another on the ice.

No personally I might be gay but I have to draw the line somewhere. If you are "good" at sports then why must you have a gay team. Why not just join a team and play. Quit making it all about sex. Being gay is just one aspect of our lives - not our WHOLE lives.

[JT]

First off, rather than hit us up individually, contact a corporation -- say Gay.com, for example -- that makes their living off of gay people. Let them do more than just run a story on it and ask us for money for yet another cause.

Secondly, at first view, the kiss and such may have seemed too much. But if it were a girl, would that have been too much? No, and the point is that our affection for each other must become as normal as affection for any other two sets of lips. Let them "get" that who we love has no bearing on our ability to play, whether it be a "macho" sport or a delicate sonata.

JT
a jock who never much cared who knew

[Glenn Witman (president / GForce Hockey Club]

Thanks everyone for the donations. Today we raised $1425. We are gettiing close but still shy about 3k. In response to Foghorn, I just want to say playing on an all gay team is an amazing experience. Over the years on my straight teams, I always had to watch what I said and who I was looking at. Not to mention all the homophobic comments thrown around the room. For the young glbt athlete or any gay athlete, that is very repressing. In a gay locker room, you can be yourself and not scared to slip up. For those of us that have experienced this over and over, its very refreshing to feel 110% comfortable . Its not about sex. Its about breaking down these negative gay stereotypes. And what better way to do this than with an elite group of gay athletes.

Also, being gay is just one aspect of my life, but when folks keep being suprised and shocked to know gays play sports, especially ice hockey, i know something needs to be done. I hear it all the time and have decided to do something about it. With the help of the whole Gforce organization, if we an enlighten as many people as possible and even help just one gay youth athlete, I will know we have accomplished something.

The hope is one day that gforce will not be needed. And that there will be no barriers for openly gay pro, college, and recreational athletes.

[duesouthto]

I play at a gay league in toronto, actually the largest in the world from what I have heard and a tourney like that is organized every year. Playing in a gay league is an amazing experience, there are even straight guys playing here because of a less aggressive, more tolerant atmosphere.

[jeff]

no offense i am sure it is great being in a league of people who are soft and delicate and wont hurt your feelings but i wish that we as a nation not just the gay community would stop the segregation. we want to be treated as equals but at the same time make ourselves un equal by hiding in our own closet. in order to come out of the closet you have to come out of the closet meaning dont say "im out and proud now i am only going to associate with other gays and hide myself from your world. gay sports teams gay church gay school and the amazingly pre-1900s esque black gay pride parade which takes place on the same day and at the same time as the gay pride parade. i thought we began anti segregation in the sixties. are we going back? just wanted to know so i could find out where the gay jewish stoners are supposed to go. dont wanna end up in the wrong meeting and offend the gay white stoners group.

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[Cee]

lol @ the comments about the hot tub scene and the two guys kissing. i dunno. i kinda feel like the team should be more aware of their actions or whoever put this video together should be more aware. those two scenes probably should not have been part of this video. no straight person or athlete would take this team seriously after seeing the hot tub scene flash by or the kiss flash by. those two scenes are what's going to stick out to your average straight person or athlete. it just takes away from the focus. you don't see NHL players in the tub together. you don't see them kissing anyone. i don't know about gay people sometimes....lol

[Cee]

oh, good luck to the team tho!

[Gary]

i remember in the vancouver gay pride parade there were hockey players on inline skates and they were playing a game in the parade. Then they stopped to make out.

It was hillarious.....

[Erich]

This sounds like a great group of people. Not sure why it is a nonprofit, sounds more like a hobby, something I would pay for myself if I were participating, so I won't donate, but congrats on finding a worthwhile activity.

[Mike Steen]

I've noticed a number of comments regarding the advantages/disadvantages of what has been called "gay segretation" within sport.
This is a subject that has been variously discussed by sociologists and sports psychologists from many countries, in particular the UK, the Netherlands and the US.
In all cases society seems to stratified into those persons who wish to incorporate everybody equally into sport, and deny that discrimination and discomfort may take place regarding openly gay players within sport; those persons who want to play in segregated teams but act as "hetrosexual" as possible to prove that they are strong and disciplined people capable of thrashing straight opponents - and that therefore any overtly homosexual behaviour is a sign of "weakness" and finally those individuals who believe that sport itself, by its very definition, is inherently discriminatory and that this means that gay sports participants should not take part in sports where overt competition plays a major part. Examples of these three attitudes are cited in all cases, but the conclusion of such studies remain the same - that is, that people have different opinions and there is neither a right nor a wrong answer. In short, a team - gay or straight - should be permitted to make their own decisions on what is acceptable to themselves in terms of their behaviour and attitudes to sports participation.

[Ryan]

Donating money to a group like this is counterproductive. In this day and age, why exactly do we need gay sports leagues? If a straight-only sports team were formed, we would be up in arms and rightly so. But teams like this seem to imply that indeed gays need to be segregated.

I have no problem with an informal gay sports club as a sort of social event, but that's no more of a charitable cause then your weekly pilates class.

Instead of donating to this group, how about a worthier cause like marriage/adoption equality or granting asylum to gay people who are persecuted in their home countries.

[Dave Farber]

So first off as a player on GForce (#20) I want to say thank you to all those who donated to the team and helped keep the Friendship Cup alive.

I'd also like to address those who say that having a gay team is "counter-productive." As an openly gay college athlete (I play for my University as well) I have to tell you that homophobia in the sporting world is rampant. It is truly the last bastion of American culture where LGBT individuals are not truly accepted.

While I came out to my hockey team sophomore year, I don't believe I would have even been selected for the team had I tried out openly gay. No matter that I am a top scorer, and now in my senior year - a captain. They simply would have viewed my sexuality as incongruent with the rigors of competitive play, or they simply wouldn't have chosen me because of the accepted homophobia in competitive sports.

This mentality has to be brought down. When our team plays against straight teams, and competes at a high level, people realize that Gays can and do compete, and often times kick ass.

Our mission is to break down these stereotypes and commonly held notions of LGBT athletes in the mainstream community, and also offer hope to gay youth and other LGBT athletes. Hopefully our organization will one day be obsolete and I hope that day is sooner rather than later.

-Dave Farber, Player #20 (GForce and UPenn Fighting Quakers)

[sean from columbus, OH]

Congratulations to all gay hockey players. I am gay and we have a gay hockey league in columbus. We also have gay softball, volleyball, bowling and golf leagues as well. I am convinced we are as good at athletics as straight guys. The video about kissing on the ice and the hot tub scene should be eliminated however. It just reinforces negative sterotypes about us.