“Heated Rivalry,” the Canadian sports romance series, took the internet by storm overnight. Fans all over the world became obsessed with Shane, Ilya and the beauty of representation.
Media representation, according to the Oxford Review, refers to how communities are portrayed across television, news, social media and other forms of media. It includes how the media portrays these different communities, especially those who are historically marginalized.
According to a study from the University of Northern Colorado, LGBTQ+ representation is not simply about including queer people in media, but portraying them as complex individuals with broad storylines. Heated Rivalry, for instance, focuses on two hockey players who are unable to come out due to the expectations of their teams, family and fans, according to IMDb. This does not stop the two from wanting to experience love, though, which challenges them to grow from their fear.
According to Medium, “It is important to have publicly and unapologetically gay characters in media, just as much as it is important to acknowledge this isn’t everyone’s reality. That is equally as important to portray on screen.”
This can be well extended to the hockey community. The National Hockey League remains the only major male sports league in the U.S. to have no players out as LGBTQ+, which could be because of the hyper-masculine and tough expectations that the hockey world puts on its players, according to OutSports.
For example, Jesse Kortuem is a hockey player who stepped away from the ice out of fear his sexuality would not be accepted, according to Out Magazine. Years later, Kortuem joined a higher-level league, but still kept his identity private from his teammates.
“On the outside, I was still a top-tier player. On the inside, I was still that kid in Minnesota hiding.” Kortuem said in his coming-out statement on Facebook. “Like many closeted athletes, revealing who I truly was to my team would change everything in an instant. Their opinion of me could bring negative attention to the team with the “gay player,” so I never took the chance. Those who know me best know that I don’t share much, if anything, publicly on social media, but lately, something has sparked in me (ok – yes, credit to #HeatedRivalry). I realized it is finally time to share a journey I have kept close to the vest for a long time.”
With accurate, diverse and inclusive LGBTQ+ representation in the media, members of the community who are afraid to come out can feel less alone. This is especially accurate for male LGBTQ+ athletes, like Kortruem, who are in a position where masculinity is often prioritized.
In this coming out statement, Kortruem explained that coming out in the 2000s did not “feel like an option” to him, “especially with so little positive representation in the media at the time.”
“I know many closeted and gay men in the hockey world are being hit hard by Heated Rivalry’s success,” Kortuem said in an interview with Out Magazine. “Never in my life did I think something so positive and loving could come from such a masculine sport.”
