Until news broke that nude photos of Maple Leafs forward Jiri Tlusty were flying around the interweb, this entry of mine was ranked in the top five when you Googled his name. Today, young Jiri Tlusty belongs to us all. He's gone from being the only teenager in the Maple Leafs system to becoming a hero in the gay community, overnight.
Jiri Tlusty, while playing in the OHL for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, took naked shots of himself in a mirror and sent them to someone via email. I won't link to the pictures, which include pics of Tlusty touching tongues with another man, but you can find them with just a little effort.
If you google Breakfast With Scot right now, I'm still holding down the 8th spot thanks to this entry I wrote last November. Breakfast With Scot is a movie starring Tom Cavanaugh as an ex-Toronto Maple Leaf who happens to be gay and it opens this week. This coincidence is uncanny.
Is Jiri Tlusty gay? I honestly don't know, but I hope so. And if he's gay, I'd love for him to come out of the closet as a Toronto Maple Leaf and blow this caveman perception of NHLers to Kingdom Come. Someone has to make the first move, play the role of Rosa Parks, and force professional sports into this accepting and tolerant age. I hope it's a Leaf and I hope I'm proven right and the reaction is nothing but positive.
It's long overdue.
