I’m in Toronto today and the daily national newspaper here, the Globe and Mail, ran a story about the upcoming winter olympics in Vancouver. While the gay games always get me excited, I’ve never seen a real intersection between sexuality and the world’s most famous sports competition.

Leave it to Canada to change all that.

The pride tent will be smack dab in the middle of all the press and hubub surrounding the games. But many wonder if any of the athletes will visit it.

This quote from the article is particularly troubling: “Of the 3,400 athletes in the four major professional leagues – the National Football League, the National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball – there are no openly gay players.”

For an athlete, dealing with the most pressure-filled days of their lives, coming out of the closet may not be very high on their agenda. And we may not see medal winners flocking to the tent (but what a sight it would be if athletes visited as a solidarity move with their LGBT teammates!).

Still, just having the tent in the area will be an important step forward for gay athletes. Visibility leads to tolerance and acceptance. And when it comes to gays in sports, there is a lot of work to be done.