‘Keep being you’: Seattle Kraken trainer comes out as first gay member of NHL bench

When the Seattle Kraken took the ice Saturday, trainer Justin Rogers will be on the bench. He just came out as gay and he’s believed to be the first member of an NHL bench to do so.

Rogers made the announcement in a letter he wrote to his younger self.

He wrote about his journey in hockey, which started in his hometown in southern Michigan.

“That knot in your stomach – the one that makes you feel confused, isolated, lost in the world –invisible to everyone but you? It will slowly loosen. You don’t even understand the knot, but with time you will learn things about yourself and fulfill dreams so many others like you feel they cannot,” Rogers wrote. “You will accept yourself as a gay man, creating a life authentic to you, while welcoming others into it. It won’t be easy, and you won’t do it alone. It will take time. The building blocks will start to take shape now as you enter your teenage years.”

And then his journey to coming out, first to his family, then friends, and then 8 years later - the world.

“Justin, you will live authentically and in doing so you will change and even save lives. I promise you any struggles or moments of doubt you ever have will be worth it because of each story that you hear and impact you have. Keep being you, keep building your community, and keep showing the love to others the way you have received it from so many before you,” he wrote.

Rogers’ decision to publicly come out comes as the NHL is facing backlash for recent choices regarding the LGBTQ+ community.

Just last week it took back its ban on rainbow-colored pride tape.

Players will once again be able to use it on the ice this season.

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