Goal!

The NHL has scored big today with a historic announcement revealing its new partnership with the LGBT-sports organization You Can Play. It marks the first relationship You Can Play has formed with a major professional North American sports league.

If NHL Insights has any well, insight, in the matter, we might have our first major professional athlete who also happens to be openly gay. According to the publication, Montreal Canadiens star Josh Gorges might be preparing to come out later this week. 

Wow. This is pretty huge!

GLAAD announced today that the six most prominent major sports leagues will all "go purple" for Spirit Day on Friday, Oct.19.

Spirit Day takes a stand against bullying and shows support for LGBT Youth.

More after the jump. 

With gay rights, homophobia, and coming out seemingly becoming a topic of conversation in every professional sport, ESPN magazine took the opportunity to gauge where the four major pro sports in the US individually stand on the issue of marriage equality.

The results may surprise you. Find out what they uncovered after the jump!

Updated 12:30 p.m. EST

New Jersey Devil Cam Janssen has apologized for joking about beating up gay hockey players during a recent radio interview. Details follow. 

GLAAD today announced a partnership with Hudson Taylor's Athlete Ally that will see the two organizations educating all 141 major league sports teams about LGBT tolerance and inclusion. Details follow.

Philadelphia Flyers scout and founder of the NHL's "You Can Play" project Patrick Burke thinks so. Details follow. 

National Hockey League players continue to take a pro-gay stance in their ongoing You Can Play campaign.

Ten new NHL players have joined the PSA project passing along the message that "If you can play, you can play."

Check out the latest You Can Play PSA after the jump.

A great sign of progress was displayed in Ottawa, Canada on Saturday when a crowd of thousands supported the surprise engagement of Alicia and Christina. 

The NHL is skating ahead of the pro-American sports pack by attacking anti-gay locker room sentiment puck-on with the launch of the You Can Play campaign. Eight of the league's brightest stars announced hockey's new initiative in a PSA that first aired during an NHL game on Sunday. Watch the PSA, after the jump!

Despite the NHL basically saying it doesn't give a puck (hardy, har) about the video evidence showing Philly Flyer Wayne Simmonds calling New York Ranger Sean Avery a "fucking faggot" during Monday night's game, GLAAD isn't letting the issue fade away. Not only has the org amped-up its call on the sports league to reprimand Simmonds, but it has also launched an online petition calling on the NHL to immediately take action.

The NHL today announced it will not take action against Philadelphia Flyer Wayne Hammond for what everyone involved says shouting an anti-gay slur during a game. During Monday night's match against the New York Rangers, Hammond called marriage equality activist Sean Avery a "fucking faggot." Even with pressure from GLAAD, it seems today is a sad day in hockey. Details follow.