Movie about gay
hockey couple drawing heat

A conservative group is criticizing the Toronto Maple Leafs for allowing the use of its name and logo in a movie about a gay former hockey player and his partner. The Canadian Family Action Coalition and other followers are bashing the Maple Leafs and makers of Breakfast With Scot for "promoting the homosexualization of small children."

"This is another attempt by certain individuals to normalize homosexual behavior, and they assume that the Maple Leafs will will help the cause," Brian Rushfeldt, cofounder and executive director of the group, told the Los Angeles Times. "I don't think it does much for the image of the NHL among families who may wan their children involved in hockey."

The film is based on a 1999 novel by Michael Downing that originally portrays a magazine editor and chiropractor, the article said. For the film version, the lead characters were recast as an ex-Leaf and the team's attorney who are a gay couple who become guardians to an 11-year-old boy.

Bernadette Masur, senior vice president for the team's communications, told the Times that executives for the Leafs thought the film would present a good opportunity. "Certain individuals are truly missing the point here," she said, "This is a story of a contemporary American family that exists today and is trying to raise a son in the best way possible." (The Advocate)