“Minorities exist in your world. They are there. We are here. And we are capable. One should be given exactly the same chances as everyone else. ”
On December 8, Montrealer Andrea Barone refereed his first American League game. It was at Place Bell in Laval. In the stands behind one of the goals, his family, friends and boyfriend were cheering him on. That evening, he became the first openly gay man to umpire a game in the American League.
This is not the first barrier that Barone smashes. It’s been six years since he made his coming out, becoming the first gay man to enter professional hockey. He was refereeing in the ECHL at the time.
Barone, “Dre” for close friends, grew up in the Saint-Léonard district. Young, he did as many Quebeckers: he dragged his hockey pocket from arena to arena for years. At 14, he started officiating, seeing it as a better chance for a career in the NHL.
At the time, homophobic and sexist language was still widely used in sports. Barone admits it: he himself used certain words “without knowing what that really meant for the gay community”.
And he still didn’t know he was gay. As his male counterparts began to see girls differently, he was immersed in his passions: hockey and music.
“Now, looking back, there was something different,” he says. But I didn’t understand. I didn’t know anyone who was gay. I have always played hockey, I grew up in arenas, and it was not something that existed. ”
At 18, Barone quit hockey to focus on officiating. It wasn’t until three years later, at age 21, that he realized he was gay. He spoke about it to his family, to his friends. When fellow referees asked him questions, he told them so. But it wasn’t until 2015, in his first season in ECHL, that he made his coming out to the general public.
He did it for the cause, he who is a “very private” person.
“I don’t have any social networks, I took them all off, I’m not interested,” he says. Having lived in the culture of hockey, I was almost ashamed to tell my story. Not because I’m gay, but because it puts a spotlight on me and, in hockey culture, it’s something you try not to do. ”
Two situations
On two occasions during his four and a half years with ECHL, Barone has dealt with homophobic comments. Both times those words came out of the mouths of coaches, in the halls after a game.
The first time in 2017, during the playoffs. There was no suspension.
“There was an elimination game the following night and she [l’équipe] needed his coach. Corn [la Ligue a dit que] if that had been the season, she would have suspended it. Me, I played the game of the same team the next day, moreover. She put me in a situation that was not ideal, and I did not feel supported.
“There was still a big part of me that understood the decision,” he adds. But now time has passed, I quit hockey for almost two years, and now I see it differently. It’s not correct, how she handled it. She didn’t support me, even though she said she supported me. ”
The same thing happened in 2018. “I got a call from my boss two hours before another game I was going to and he said:‟ I just want to let you know that we are going to suspend coach two. matches, but I have to tell you that he [l’entraîneur] said you were sacred to his players, so that’s why. ” In English, we say victim blaming – putting the blame on the victim. I didn’t feel comfortable, not supported, yet. ”
“Everyone knows that I never crown the players on the ice,” he continues. I will crown once in a while, but never to a player. Let’s say I would, does that justify what he said? Not at all. ”
They do not understand. It is a lack of education, it is not because they are homophobic. These are people who have never had to deal with situations like this because they have never been a minority in their life.
Andrea Barone
After four years and hundreds of matches officiating in ECHL, Barone still hadn’t had his chance in the American League, unlike many other umpires. “For his sanity,” he took a hiatus from hockey for over two years, from April 2019 to November 2021. He needed to take a step back.
It was with the help of Kim Davis, Executive Vice President, Social Impact, Growth Initiatives, and NHL Legislative Affairs, that he decided to return to officiating and finally got his first game in the American League.
” [Kim Davis], he’s a mentor to me, he said. She really helped me. […] We worked together with both leagues to give me a chance. Without her, I was not there. ”
The “real problem”
In “Dre’s” opinion, things have changed a lot since he was a player. But according to him, the “real problem”, still to this day, is culture.
“Around 15, when young people are still together and easily impressionable, that’s where it happens,” he explains. They all have the same clothes, the same hair. They speak the same way. ”
Barone is telling her story publicly not only to give visibility to the LGBTQ + community, but also to help anyone who feels different, no matter what.
The more 100% a person can express themselves, the better they will feel on the ice. Because she will feel supported and better about herself.
Andrea Barone
“I have lots of messages from people telling me that they have seen my story and are going to make a coming out to their parents. I got some from Europe, through the United States, Canada. I had two or three messages from players telling me that the next day, they were going to do their coming out to their team. ”
Last July, six years after the coming out de Barone, Nashville Predators prospect Luke Prokop has publicly announced his homosexuality. If he reaches the NHL, he could become the first active player to assert his homosexuality.
” I have contacted [Luke Prokop], I congratulated him, says Barone on this subject. I was very happy, I’m proud of him. ”
The Montrealer does not hold a grudge against anyone for what he has gone through. All he wants is “to be on the ice, to referee, to be at [son] better, [se] have the National League supervised and watched ”.
But “it’s all a question of visibility,” he recalls. “It’s one thing to talk, to say that we want diversity, to be inclusive. It’s another thing to invest. Often this is what is missing. ”