- Brian Burke, President and General Manager of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs!
- Angela James, a star player leading Canada’s ice hockey team to four World Championships and the first woman inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame!
- Toronto Gay Football League, a two-year young organization that has already grown to over 120 players!
These are just three of the Legacy Awards being presented along with the FGG Volunteer of the Year medals at a drinks evening at Woody’s Bar in Toronto this Monday October 24th starting at 7:30pm. All are welcome to join the festivities, organised by the FGG Awards Committee with the help of Outsport Toronto.
Brian Burke is honoured for his achievements as a Straight Ally. He is a long-time supporter of the fight against homophobia in sport, a commitment that only became stronger after the untimely death in 2010 of his son Brendan, shortly after he had come out publicly. Angela James, an out lesbian and a true star in her sport, is honoured with the Women in Sport Legacy Award as an incredible role model for all athletes, and for women in particular, all the more so as she was a pioneer in a sport where women broke barriers simply by playing the sport of ice hockey. The Toronto Gay Football League is honoured with the FGG’s Local Organisation Legacy Award. They represent the vitality of LGBT sport, and the Federation’s values of inclusion and participation. Their inclusion of men and women, LGBT and straight people, is part of their success, and a principle the FGG wants to support.
Other local Canadians being recognized are Stephanie Johnstone and Rob Lavery, both receiving Local Hero Legacy Awards. Stephanie Johnstone of Woodstock is a long-time leader of the International Gay Bowling Organization and the FGG Sports Committee, has also served as Vice President of the Federation, and continues her activism with a campaign against bullying of LGBT youth. Rob Lavery served on the board of directors of the Federation of Gay Games for several years representing Team Toronto. During this time he also served as chair of the Site Selection Committee and as a site inspector for both Gay Games VII and VIII.
Completing the list of award winners are the Member Organization Legacy Award to the International Gay Bowling Organization, the largest LGBT sports organization in the world, and the Social Justice Legacy Award to Cape Town’s Ndumie Funda and the organisation she founded, Luleki Sizwe, which combat the abominable practice of “corrective rape” in South Africa’s black townships.
This is a great opportunity to celebrate the achievements of some of our best and to give a warm Toronto welcome the international delegates to FGG’s AGA. Hope to see you there!
Mac Gunter, Secretary
OutSport Toronto
